So much of my reality has to do with perspective.

Sonora has usually seemed like such a small person. She was a baby and then a toddler, and now she is a kid, but still small and very much a child. However, since Rowyn was born, Sonora suddenly seems much older and much larger. A few nights after Rowyn was born, Elizabeth heard Sonora crying and went in to comfort her. Elizabeth took Rowyn with her and set Rowyn down on the foot of the bed and picked up Sonora in the darkness. Elizabeth panicked, because the girl she struggled to pick up wasn't Sonora at all, but some giant child a kidnapper must have put there after he stole our child. Of course, it really was Sonora, but she suddenly seemed huge after holding an eight-pound baby. For a few moments, Elizabeth's body coursed with fear and adrenaline when she thought someone had swapped kids with us.

A few days ago, I was chatting with Howard, my brother-in-law, about how I was frustrated with how cold of a spring it had been so far. That is, I was frustrated until he reminded me that our nephew, Bryant, who is in eastern Russia, would probably love to enjoy the kind of weather I was complaining about.

The other day, I wrung my cold hands in front of my boss and explained to him that the room I had just taught my class in had been at a temperature of 60 degrees for the whole hour. He acknowledged that there was a problem with the heating system, but also mentioned that many countries, including Japan (I have not verified this) don't heat or cool their classrooms. Their students and teachers simply adjust. Our building is heated using natural gas, he reminded me, and natural gas, when burned, produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. "Americans are going to need to become a lot tougher in the coming decades," he said. I agree with him.

Food prices in the U.S. have increased substantially, including the prices of rice, wheat, and other basic foods. Elizabeth and I were lamenting the fact that to build up our food storage will now cost us noticeably more than it would have a year ago. I heard a report on the radio yesterday that in Haiti the price of a bowl of rice had recently doubled from 40 cents to 80 cents. Most people in Haiti live on about two dollars a day. People are rioting to eat.

Sometimes I grasp that that which I have mistaken for forever is really only today. Sometimes I am shocked to realize how abnormal my idea of normalcy is. Sometimes words such as "deserve" and "need" taste like poisonous opiates.