This week is a bit different from the last as I took some time away from my Fulbright assignment in Singapore to return to my wife’s hometown in France for the arrival of the newest member of our family:

Rose Valley Houston.

As the sound of gunshots from Wednesday’s terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices now give way to a defiant chant of unity on the streets of Paris and around the world, our family joins the world in remembering those lost this week, as well as in the resolve of the many who march.

While so many find themselves in Paris today to rally against those who would bring death, we find ourselves in a quieter corner of France, reflecting on a more intimate experience of life:  the miraculous that we often take for ordinary, at once the future and the present; the promise of longevity that is a sign of one’s mortality; and the possibility that is both immediate and infinite.

Welcome, Rose.

R