Birth

When they were wild
When they were not yet human
When they could have been anything,
I was on the other side ready with milk to lure them,
And their father, too, each name a net in his hands.

Louise Erdrich from Baptism of Desire

The belly button has taken on a special meaning for me lately because I saw the moment the doctor cut my son’s umbilical cord. I realized later that the belly button represents both our connection to and disconnection from another human being. It is the location through which we once received sustenance from another, and it is the site where we first had to experience disconnection from another. And oddly enough, it is at that point of disconnection when we first started to become ourselves.

This little bellybutton, that we all have, represents our paradoxical condition. We are all connected by this fact, by this common experience of how we got here, yet from the moment we arrive, we are also inextricably disconnected from each other. And we all struggle with forging connection every minute of every day from then on.