I met my new niece this weekend, and she is, of course, wonderful and beloved. I had planned to write about that, but then we got home and Manchester happened, and then today my dad had to put his old dog to sleep, so now that I finally have a minute to sit down and write, I'm once again feeling a lot of feelings and not a lot of wordings.
Instead, here's a poem, in honor of young girls who love things unabashedly, babies who are still learning where their hands are, and sweet dogs who spend their whole lives thinking they're puppies. Also some links, which I hope will help bring you back around, too.
Ode to the Joyful Ones 
by Thomas Lux    
          Shield your joyful ones.
                    —from an Anglican prayer
That they walk, even stumble, among us is reason
to praise them, or protect them—even the sound
of a lead slug dropped on a lead plate, even that, for them,
is music. Because they bring laughter’s
brief amnesia. Because they stand,
talking, taking pleasure in others,
with their hands on the shoulders of strangers
and the shoulders of each other.
Because you don’t have to tell them to walk toward the light.
Because if there are two pork chops
they will serve you the better one.
Because they will give you the crutch off their backs.
Because when there are two of them together
their shining fills the room.
Because you don’t have to tell them to walk toward the light.

"Ode to the Joyful Ones" by Thomas Lux from To the Left of Time. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.