In which the abstract becomes concrete (original) (raw)

Made With Love by a Liberal had occasion to give out our first donations yesterday.

A friend of a friend was informed yesterday that her nineteen-year-old son was finally willing to relinquish custody of his badly neglected eight-month-old son to her. The social worker who called said that it would be good if someone could be there within the hour to get the baby, before the parents changed their minds. Since the FOAF lives in Florida and the baby is here in Washington, my friend Cheryl ran to go get him.

When she picked up the baby, he had literally nothing. No clothes, no extra diapers, no bottle, no nothing. The social service agency loaned her a carseat to get him home. He was wearing a diaper and a three-year-old's coat that was safety-pinned together at the bottom. Now, we have mild winters here, but it's still November. Cheryl knows about MWLbaL, and figured me for having some baby stuff I could give her -- and so I did.

The baby has booties, a hat, and a quilt to wrap up in now. Whatever else happens to him in the rest of his life, his toes are warm today. The importance of what we're doing here really struck home.