Nurturance is often described as the human social behavior of supplying material and emotional support to the young, the helpless and the weak. You might describe a garden as being helpless, it will wither and die without weeding, nurturing, water and attention.

A gardener might well be described as supplying material and emotional support to the plant or flower. I see Maria do this every day to the animals as well as the gardens. I embrace nurturance and practice it. I consider training a dog to be a form of nurturance, I am showing them how to live safely in our world.

I love to water plants, I do it faithfully and eagerly, it is a form of nurturance. So is grooming the donkeys and pony and giving them carrots. Maria and I both save food and bring it to the chickens, even thought they have plenty of feed. This is a kind of nurturance.

Maria has never wanted to have children, and I respect that, that is her right, but children lost out when she decided that.

She would have made a wonderful mother. Animals are drawn to nurturing souls, they instinctively feel safe around nurturing people. So do children.

In our political system, we are continuously asked to offer nurturance to the poor, to refugees, to the weak and helpless. Some people are drawn to nurturance, some turn away from it, often blaming the helpless for their troubles and seeking to push them away. I love Maria for many reasons, but nurturance is a major reason, it is her faith, she practices it every day, with people, with animals, with plants.

She says I am a nurturing man, and I believe this is so. I ache almost every day for the two children I lost so many years ago, I was never able to provide support or comfort to them, and I know this left a huge hole in my life that will never be filled.