I never did end up writing a blog post about the rest of our weekend back in southern California. And another weekend has come and gone.

I guess, to summarize, I’ll just say this:

At one point, on the Sunday of Maya’s birthday party, I walked into the living room and saw Ishu running up to me and my first thought was, “Oh yeah, I HAVE A CHILD.”

I shit you not.

He was so occupied with his cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents the entire day that I would go stretches of time without hearing him call for mama.

This is what they mean when they say babies should be raised by a village.

The entire weekend, I watched all the little cousins play together and thought, “THIS IS WHAT LIFE SHOULD BE LIKE.” Friday night dinners with the family, kids running around the house while the adults gather around the kitchen counter.

It is not our now.

But I sure as heck hope it is our future.

There are very few moments in my life where I pause and take stock of things and think, “I NEED MORE OF THIS.”

But I felt that so much during the weekend home in SoCal. I need more of this. More family. More love. THE VILLAGE.