The bubble

Strong coffee, crayons, and the New York Times. The sun is so warm, the butterflies are flitting, and the squirrels are driving our dog crazy. Oh how I love mornings like these. The latest headlines from Haiti remind me how much of a bubble LA can be. Just as I was thinking, ugh, we have to make another Trader Joes run today because we are low on milk, I pick up the paper. It is almost impossible to imagine that such scary and sad scenes are unfolding on the same planet. As a mother bear, one whose head can go to dark "what-if" places, especially in a land where the threat of an earthquake is always in the air, I choose to stay in the bubble this morning. For my daughter's sake, for now, I am grateful for its simplicity. I have already tried to explain some of the images she has stumbled upon, in an honest yet sensitive way. I know it is important that she feels and understands the world around her. But there is time for that. Today, I am just happy that in her drawings, everyone and everything is smiling. Even the grass.