I heard Mila before I saw her. The restaurant was empty a few minutes ago except for a handful of employees and me. But I heard Mila cry, so I knew there was a baby in the house.
I’d seen pictures of Mila before, but I’d never seen her in person. She was born almost 4 months ago to one of the managers here and I’d been wanting to meet her. Her father was called into work, so he had to drop her off with her mom while someone came to pick her up. In the 15 minutes she was here, I finally got to meet this little bundle of joy and love.
She’s a very serious baby and she seemed to be taking the entire world in with her huge brown eyes. She regarded me with intense curiosity. Then she eagerly took my finger in her tiny hand and squeezed it tightly as she gave me the only smile I saw from her.

Walls built to protect heart keep others from giving what we need
There’s hatred, evil and injustice, but this is the ‘real’ America, too
Monkeys celebrating new donation button, hoping for more bananas
Hearing voice of the one you love can be medicine for hurting heart
For all my life, I’ve hidden anger in order to be ‘perfect’ to others
We’re neither friends nor enemies, just strangers who share the past
Society needs storytellers to help make sense of a changing world
My bad teen poetry suggests I’ve always hungered for missing love