An alien emotion

I knew I wanted to write about joy this morning, so I was going through all the images from my Italy trip, looking for a statue or a picture that communicated sheer unadulterated joy and gratitude.

Instead I came upon this poster for a maternity shop in Naples, which my husband insisted I photograph. And I thought, okay, why not? First of all because it's amusing, and my sense of humor doesn't get to vent all that often here.

And second of all because what this election is really about is the promise of a new beginning, and right now we are in the anticipation stage.

But what I realized as I looked at this is that what I am filled almost to bursting with is something that over the years has become, sadly, an alien emotion: Hope.

May all we long for come to pass.