A Fond Nighttime Memory, How to Gain Happiness or Why Have Babies

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Last night, Greg took the night shift.  Mara had been waking up more often lately, especially after our trip to Florida. I was so happy to get a full night of sleep and recover after travelling. The morning brought even more happiness.
This is Greg's account to me, on what had happened in the night.

Around midnight, Mara thoroughly worked on a poopy diaper for Daddy, then called out for assistance. He went to her room to simply tell her to go back to sleep as on every other night, but soon after that he grasped what was going on.

He picked the sleepy child off the bed and placed her on the diaper changing mat, which just happens to sport a very appropriate night-owl decoration. There was a gorgeous full moon that shone through Mara's window, and it cast a pretty pattern of light on the floor. Greg moved the mat with the bottom half in the light, and the top with Mara's head in the darkness.

What happened next is probably worth skipping the details, but it involved thorough moonlit wiping on Greg's side and relaxed snoozing on Mara's. At the end, there was a baby with a clean new diaper on.

The dear part of this memory is not how thoughtful and resourceful Daddy was, ensuring Mara gets her sleep almost undisturbed. It is how he was feeling afterward.

Grateful. Happy. Fulfilled.

Would you think that about a diaper change in the middle of the night?

Well, he did.

Mara was in no way able to help her situation, and Daddy became pretty much the hero.

One of the basic dimensions of a human being's happiness is usefulness. Usefulness to someone around you, someone who without you would have been worse.

Greg joked that morning that if you don't feel happy in your personal life, you should have kids. You will realize you can have a tremendous impact on another human's existence, and that by itself is grounds for happiness.
It wasn't really a joke but a very insightful point.

Think about the lives of the people you've changed for the better. Think about the internal sense of accomplishment you got. Altruism is a drug. Babies depend completely on you for survival. You are the one who keeps them alive [Greg's edit: ... and their butts clean!].
There's really no stronger direct impact you could be making on another life.

Mara is asleep right now for her nap, and we were thinking of taking a photo for this post. But we realized that her happy napping is so important to us that we are fine without it.
So here's some older memories of Greg & Mara together:












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