A Valentine to the Village

I read somewhere once that having kids is like having your heart walk around outside your body. When I first heard that, I remember rolling my eyes and thinking, “Yeah, right.” That was before having two kids of my own. Of course, now that I have children, I can’t think of a better way to express how it feels to be a mom, no eye-rolls about it.

We tend to think of Valentine’s Day as a , the kind of rush that’s responsible for blush-inducing heart palpitations and not the kind of mini heart attacks we parents have when we are apart from our children. But now that my heart walks around outside my body every day, starting from when I kiss Lucy and Isaac goodbye in the morning before getting in my car for my commute downtown, my perspective on Valentine’s Day has changed.

Naturally I can’t help but think of my husband on Feb. 14 – our love for each other led to this . But now I think about how much I love the kids, too, and by extension how much love and gratitude I have for the village that surrounds my child, whether we are together or apart.

There’s the great staff at the Goddard School in Sparks, where my kids spend the day while my husband and I work. Everyone there takes excellent care of our children and we couldn’t ask for a better place for Lucy and Ike to learn and grow.

There’s our extended family – we are incredibly lucky to have grandparents nearby who spend lots of time with their grandkids, both with us and without us, too, so we parents can catch a few date nights here and there.

And then there’s the community we live in. I find that when we are out and about in Cockeysville and Hunt Valley, the people we encounter are kind, and that kindness has a great influence on my children and sets a wonderful example for them.

So for those reasons, this is my valentine for the village that is helping us raise our children. I don’t have enough and for everyone, so I hope this humbly written column will do.