Mari! Congratulations on having your baby <3 I'm so happy for you!!! Mari Jr is going to have the most kaleidoscopic experience of life, thanks to you. Thanks for sharing this piece, I really needed to hear this. I’ve been finding it hard to stay optimistic in the middle of life’s chaos. Even on days when I do feel happy, I can’t enjoy it fully because guilt creeps in. I start wondering what less privileged people would think about the source of my happiness—whether it’s ethically, politically, or socially ‘right.’ It feels like a kind of sympathy fatigue, where every thought has to include everyone else’s struggles. Instead of just allowing myself the freedom to feel what I feel, I get stuck questioning whether I’m even allowed to. So reading this gave me permission to make space for joy.
P.S. I'm still waiting to receive your book while I wait here in India. It's still cozied up in NY.
Dear Mari, How is it that your first newsletter after giving birth is a masterpiece?! I could not believe it , by the first paragraph I was all in and then it just kept getting better, and better, and better. It s a book! I receive so many newsletters these days - a good things, it's curated reading but I got to the point were i do not have time to read them all and I almost did not open this one . I am so grateful I did open it, but mostly I am grateful to you for writing it and sharing it with us. Truly inspiring. Pacifying. Everything. Congratulations, I am delighted for you and your wonderful family!
First, so delighted you and Mari Jr. are healthy and doing well! Second, I read your book & tried desperately to savor it slowly because it was so good it took all my self control not to read it in one sitting :) Thirdly, this is a lovely piece ~ thank you for writing it!
Oh my gosh I can’t bring myself to finish it! I want it to be on my bedside table forever!
Mari, congratulations are definitely in order 💗 thank you so much for giving us not just an update but one of your most poignant yet. To look out for the ways the world wants to remind us that we’re all welcome here 🥹 Wow!!
Welcome to your little one and congratulations! I loved what you wrote and that you turned the line in the song. This world is for the Van Gogh’s of our world. It is a beautiful world despite all that is not.
Glad that baby is here safe and sound! Congratulations. As I’ve been preparing to become a mom (someday) I’ve thought about this contrast and how scary that feels. Sometimes I cry about my future children struggling with friendships and I don’t even have any children yet hahaha. What a beautiful idea that the world was made for you! 💫
Congrats on your new baby! I love your writing and perspectives (in fact, your book, My Inner Life, sits happily on my bookshelf nearby; I look forward to reading your newest book too.) I'm so glad I happened to discover that you're on Substack this morning, while scrolling through Substack notes.
Reading your post is what I needed to hear this morning, especially this quote: "People who are extra sensitive to the horrors of life are ALSO extra sensitive to the magnificence of it." Thank you for the reminder that optimism is a muscle to build. So necessary and vital to thriving, in spite of whatever we may face in this life, this world. Appreciate you!
Welcome here on Earth little angel ! And welcome to your parents, to the parents world. You will learn and everything is normal. We wish you health and love.
Mari, I’m so delighted to know that Mari Jr is here in your arms. Babies truly are tiny miracles and motherhood is transformative in many ways. I’ve never known such joy before. 💛 This was an especially great post, and I have loved Van Gogh since learning about him from my elementary school art teacher. The song “Skin” by Vigilantes of Love is about him; I think you’ll enjoy it. Blessings to you and yours!
Congratulations Mari 💗💗 sending you all the love as I lie in the dark with my 6 month old attached to me and my 4 year old out at preschool and getting ready to start big school in a few weeks, and growing and changing and a part of my soul that is venturing further away from me with each little bit of independence she gains 😭
This was a beautiful read & I look forward to reading more on your experiences and thoughts as you move through this incredible new phase of life. Thank you for sharing your practice of optimism and for the sorely needed reminder that the world is for us too, even when it doesn’t feel like it💙
Mari! Congratulations on having your baby <3 I'm so happy for you!!! Mari Jr is going to have the most kaleidoscopic experience of life, thanks to you. Thanks for sharing this piece, I really needed to hear this. I’ve been finding it hard to stay optimistic in the middle of life’s chaos. Even on days when I do feel happy, I can’t enjoy it fully because guilt creeps in. I start wondering what less privileged people would think about the source of my happiness—whether it’s ethically, politically, or socially ‘right.’ It feels like a kind of sympathy fatigue, where every thought has to include everyone else’s struggles. Instead of just allowing myself the freedom to feel what I feel, I get stuck questioning whether I’m even allowed to. So reading this gave me permission to make space for joy.
P.S. I'm still waiting to receive your book while I wait here in India. It's still cozied up in NY.
Thank you for naming what I feel too.
Dear Mari, How is it that your first newsletter after giving birth is a masterpiece?! I could not believe it , by the first paragraph I was all in and then it just kept getting better, and better, and better. It s a book! I receive so many newsletters these days - a good things, it's curated reading but I got to the point were i do not have time to read them all and I almost did not open this one . I am so grateful I did open it, but mostly I am grateful to you for writing it and sharing it with us. Truly inspiring. Pacifying. Everything. Congratulations, I am delighted for you and your wonderful family!
Congratulations Mari and Mr. Mari and especially Mari Jr. - you hit the jackpot for your mom, baby!!! 🩷🩷🩷 p.s. they sleep eventually.
First, so delighted you and Mari Jr. are healthy and doing well! Second, I read your book & tried desperately to savor it slowly because it was so good it took all my self control not to read it in one sitting :) Thirdly, this is a lovely piece ~ thank you for writing it!
Oh my gosh I can’t bring myself to finish it! I want it to be on my bedside table forever!
Mari, congratulations are definitely in order 💗 thank you so much for giving us not just an update but one of your most poignant yet. To look out for the ways the world wants to remind us that we’re all welcome here 🥹 Wow!!
Many congratulations, Mari! Thank you for another beautiful reflection 🌷
Oh, Mari!!! 🩵🩷💜❤️🩵🩷❤️💜🩵🩷💜❤️
Congratulations! ❤️❤️❤️
Welcome to your little one and congratulations! I loved what you wrote and that you turned the line in the song. This world is for the Van Gogh’s of our world. It is a beautiful world despite all that is not.
Congratulations!!!!
Glad that baby is here safe and sound! Congratulations. As I’ve been preparing to become a mom (someday) I’ve thought about this contrast and how scary that feels. Sometimes I cry about my future children struggling with friendships and I don’t even have any children yet hahaha. What a beautiful idea that the world was made for you! 💫
Congrats on your new baby! I love your writing and perspectives (in fact, your book, My Inner Life, sits happily on my bookshelf nearby; I look forward to reading your newest book too.) I'm so glad I happened to discover that you're on Substack this morning, while scrolling through Substack notes.
Reading your post is what I needed to hear this morning, especially this quote: "People who are extra sensitive to the horrors of life are ALSO extra sensitive to the magnificence of it." Thank you for the reminder that optimism is a muscle to build. So necessary and vital to thriving, in spite of whatever we may face in this life, this world. Appreciate you!
Welcome here on Earth little angel ! And welcome to your parents, to the parents world. You will learn and everything is normal. We wish you health and love.
Congratulations Mari.... to you and your growing family! I hope you are able to get some rest when you think you want too!
Congratulations Mari!!
Mari, I’m so delighted to know that Mari Jr is here in your arms. Babies truly are tiny miracles and motherhood is transformative in many ways. I’ve never known such joy before. 💛 This was an especially great post, and I have loved Van Gogh since learning about him from my elementary school art teacher. The song “Skin” by Vigilantes of Love is about him; I think you’ll enjoy it. Blessings to you and yours!
Congratulations Mari 💗💗 sending you all the love as I lie in the dark with my 6 month old attached to me and my 4 year old out at preschool and getting ready to start big school in a few weeks, and growing and changing and a part of my soul that is venturing further away from me with each little bit of independence she gains 😭
This was a beautiful read & I look forward to reading more on your experiences and thoughts as you move through this incredible new phase of life. Thank you for sharing your practice of optimism and for the sorely needed reminder that the world is for us too, even when it doesn’t feel like it💙