As you can probably tell from Archie’s photos, he’s a generally happy and easy-going baby. He smiles and chuckles readily. He can be nudged gently toward a schedule of sleeping/ eating/ playing that keeps him from becoming overstimulated or overtired – kudos to Amy and Matt for that. Archie is intensely curious about the world, wiry and wiggly, and once he starts to move there will be no stopping him. At the same time, he’s happy to cuddle and be read a book. He has favorites. He also has special toys, and right now his little rubber giraffe is at the top of his list.

I think he’s a miracle, a dear and precious little guy.

Archie is about to take a big step: he starts day care on Wednesday. His month with Matt has gone by in a flash, as did his first three months at home with Amy.

Love is about holding close and letting go, a little bit at a time, and trusting that the world will bless his small and feisty heart.

The state of Florida tried that in the last election, choosing former CEO Rick Scott as its governor. Now in his second year, Scott is – according to some media reports – focusing on learning political and legislative skills so that he can get things done. Turns out that running a state and running a corporation aren’t all that much alike. A political figure doesn’t get to hire and fire people at will, and everybody is a stakeholder, not just those who voluntarily come to work for you or buy your stock.

Assuming that one setting is pretty much like another didn’t work out very well for New York State and Elliot Spitzer either. Spitzer was a reasonably effective Attorney General, when he could use subpoenas to force powerful people to pay attention and cut a deal. Lacking that power as governor and lacking most political skills, Spitzer got rolled over and over again by the powerful Republican Joe Bruno and his Democratic counterpart Sheldon Silver. And that was before Spitzer was unmasked as “Client Number 9″ in the prostitution scandal that cost him the governorship.

Like it or not, politics is the system by which we make decisions and allocate resources in a democracy. Politics has its own culture, and its own rules. At one time – before “compromise” became a dirty word rather than the operating principal of a diverse nation – we had senators and representatives in both parties for whom crafting legislation was an honorable activity.Teddy Kennedy comes to mind on the Democratic side, and Everett Dirksen on the Republican. These days, someone like Newt Gingrich can whip a crowd of supporters into a frenzy by claiming to be a Washington outsider – ridiculous on its face – and threatening to go to the heart of government and blow things up.

Wanting an outsider to be president is a little like sending Andy Warhol to do plastic surgery on Marilyn Monroe, just because he can do an imaginary rendering of her face.

If you don’t watch competitive tennis you may wonder where the American players were? The answer is … pretty far down in the final standings. The days when Chrissie Evert and Jimmy Connors dominated international play are long gone. The powerful and skilled Williams sisters have had their run, but they are often injured and don’t compete in many top tournaments. The highest seeded U.S. male player in the 2012 Australian Open, Mardy Fish, fell in the second round.

What strikes me about the top competitors – aside from their astonishing levels of fitness – is that they don’t panic and they don’t give up when the game is going against them. That’s true even when the crowd and the commentators think they’ve dug themselves into a hole too deep from which to recover. Both Djokovic and Nadal were, at one point or another in the long match, down by two sets and three break points. You don’t need to understand the scoring in tennis to know that’s a lot of ground to have to make up. And yet in both cases, the players did fight back and the game stayed competitive to the final set.

Part of that is trusting their skills, fitness, and heart. Part is having the experience to know that momentum in a long match swings back and forth. Part is loving the game, and wanting to acquit oneself well when huge numbers of people are watching. Part is wanting the victory just a smidgen more than the other guy.

Sports offers certain life lessons, and don’t panic/don’t give up when the tide is against you is one of the more valuable. A more positive way to say the same thing might be this: keep giving it your best, and let the game come back to you.

Then – given permission – the machine connected itself to my wireless system, configured itself to work, and printed out a test sheet.With much less difficulty than I expected, I’m up and running.

Actually, with my dismal visual spatial skills, the harder job was assembling the new metal printer table that came in several pieces and with a small bag of screws. With the help of a Phillips-head and a pretty decent set of directions, I got that together as well.

The packing materials went downstairs to the recycle room for the building custodian to put out on the next trash collection day. I got everything from Amazon, so both products came right to my door, and were delivered a day or two ahead of the promised date. I experienced no fuss, no muss, no delay in finding time to get to the store, no expenditure of shopping time or gasoline, no carrying boxes out to the car and into the condo. I’ve become a real Amazon devotee, and not just because Sara works there. I think Amazon is going to take over the retail world.

Archie is just beginning to eat a little cereal, so spicy noodles were not on his agenda. Instead, he’s chewing on his bib.

Points to any retired U.S. Naval Commanders among my regular readers who might help us guess what this vessel might be.

According to press reports, the Penn State college president and several trustees approached Paterno in 2004, when he turned 80, and suggested that it was time to retire. Paterno blew them off. Cowed by the amount of money the football program brought in, the administration backed off and Paterno was allowed to stay.

Big mistake. Tragic mistake, in retrospect.

Paterno, like many of the U.S. Catholic bishops, was of an era when protecting the institution from shame outweighed the brutality of young boys being raped. The Penn State trustees made the right decision in firing him. For that matter, all of the bishops and cardinals who looked the other way should have been removed too.

Paterno could have retired in 2004 with the undiluted adulation of the entire Penn State community behind him. How sad, in retrospect, that he couldn’t see the right time to go.

The play is deeply Catholic, and the Theater provided the equivalent of Cliff Notes in the lobby so that playgoers without that religious background would understand more of the nuances.

I haven’t practiced as a Catholic since leaving college 45 years ago. But I didn’t need the Cliff Notes.

Oatmeal sticks to the ribs. Spilled candle wax sticks to the table, not easy to remove without leaving scratches. Early religious formation is in there, whether we choose to have it or not.

Most parents of my era believed that children should be raised with some religious sensibility, and then as adults they could decide whether or not to practice. I didn’t love growing up Catholic, and didn’t want to pass it on.

No matter how many other points of commonality we might have, my kids and I will always see the world though somewhat different eyes.

These days, long retired from the singles game although she occasionally plays competitive doubles, Navratilova is a TV commentator  - and a very smooth and polished and informative one.

Good for her.