Well after 6 years as my Assistant Director/Night Manager, Rachid has left me.

I've loved working with Rachid. He brought this great combination of skills to the job. Smart, creative, forward thinking, he was also really into creating protocols and sequences and offering more structure to compliment my much more free-form style. Of course, he brought exceptional technical skills. And he made me laugh a lot. And recently, both of us got to share the joys of becoming parents.

Rachid is GREAT with kids. Liana LOVES Rachid, and he loves her too. Liana is going to be very dissapointed this evening when I have to take her to the office and she discovers that Rachid is not there. Even though she did get her Rachid fix on Saturday.

Rachid and Kate and their baby daughter Layla took me and Liana to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday. Liana loves art, and she had a very good time, even though we stayed too long for the kids. Layla was, of course, a little too little to appreciate anything other than the occasional mirror, and of course the sights and sounds and chaos seemed to agree with her. So long as the stroller stayed in motion.

Liana loved the sphynx especially. But perhaps the highlight of the trip was when she approached a large statue of a naked woman and put her hands on the statue's feet. As security guards started moving forward to protect the statue, Liana loudly exclaimed "Mommy! She has no shoes!" Laughter ensued, from friends and strangers alike, and even the security guards smiled. I lifted her up to show her the entire statue, starting with the eyes and nose and mouth, but at that point Rachid was moving on, keeping Layla's stroller in constant motion, and Liana's attention was drawn away to the statue, and back to the job of keeping track of Rachid.

On the ride home, Kate and I talked about art and religion and politics and morality and traditions and customs and child-rearing. I really value her insight and perspective on so many levels, and whenever we talk, I find myself re-visiting her words and finding fresh wisdom. Rachid and Kate and Layla... I hope that our families continue to be friends over the years as our daughters grow up in this exciting little corner of planet earth....