After a long deliberation, I have decided to launch The Antelope Diaries.  The site is named in honor of my daughter, Polina, which can almost be spelled antelope backwards.  Hence, The Antelope Diaries.  She was born in August of 2012 and is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  When she smiles, my whole world lights up.  When she cries, she stirs within me internal pain.  She is my best teacher, despite our 38-year age difference.  In many ways, she is more mature than I am (which will be the subject of an upcoming article).  She can be funny and maddening.  She brings out at different times, sometimes one after the other, my deepest love and deepest frustration.  My favorite moments with her are when she smiles so broadly that her mouth opens to its outermost limits.  When she smiles like that, it is pure, unadulterated joy.  There is nothing like that in the adult-world.  You would be put in a mental hospital if you smiled like that or felt that much joy.  But with babies/toddlers, it’s an easy, beautiful state of affairs. More →