apropos of my recent posts
Oct. 14th, 2006 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanI can't deny that I've thought about what my life would be like today if I hadn't decided to have kids, lo these four years ago. Considering the quite decent salaries I've been making during this time, if I hadn't been pouring much of it into daycare and diapers, I'd certainly be in a pretty comfortable financial position. I'd probably have paid off my student loans, bought a nicer car, possibly bought a house or condo (this one or another one, who knows?). I'd have gone to the last two Worldcons in Scotland and Los Angeles, and probably other cons as well (UFC is always a really good time). Who knows, maybe I would even have had time for lots of socializing, and would have met the girl of my dreams, maybe married her, maybe would even be ttc now.
But I don't think about any of that stuff with any sense of wistfulness, bitterness, or regret. Trite and cliched though it may be, having kids was the best thing I've ever done. I can't say "I wouldn't give up a single moment of it" because frankly, Isaac's first ~6 months of life were horrendous and I'd gladly give those up ;) but I can say that I wouldn't for anything give up being mama to the person that Isaac is now. And Ruthie is just a joy (even though lately I've been getting frustrated with her over the sleep thing -- but that's normal), the daughter I've always dreamed of.
Plus, of course, the fact that I've made a lot of good friends through being a parent, whom I wouldn't have met at all if not for that.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anotherjen and mofic are just two examples of people I'm glad to know, whom I most likely wouldn't know if I weren't a parent.
The other dayhopemcg wrote a sweet post on the occasion of her daughter's six-month birthday. Among other things, she wrote about how becoming a parent changes your life, in all those ways that you always hear about, which sound so trite and cloying when you hear about them, and which you can never really fully understand or appreciate until they happen to you. Well, I can't recall exactly how she phrased it, but the point is...you never know until you're there. And now I'm there, and I can't regret it for a moment.
But I don't think about any of that stuff with any sense of wistfulness, bitterness, or regret. Trite and cliched though it may be, having kids was the best thing I've ever done. I can't say "I wouldn't give up a single moment of it" because frankly, Isaac's first ~6 months of life were horrendous and I'd gladly give those up ;) but I can say that I wouldn't for anything give up being mama to the person that Isaac is now. And Ruthie is just a joy (even though lately I've been getting frustrated with her over the sleep thing -- but that's normal), the daughter I've always dreamed of.
Plus, of course, the fact that I've made a lot of good friends through being a parent, whom I wouldn't have met at all if not for that.
anotherjen and mofic are just two examples of people I'm glad to know, whom I most likely wouldn't know if I weren't a parent.The other day
hopemcg wrote a sweet post on the occasion of her daughter's six-month birthday. Among other things, she wrote about how becoming a parent changes your life, in all those ways that you always hear about, which sound so trite and cloying when you hear about them, and which you can never really fully understand or appreciate until they happen to you. Well, I can't recall exactly how she phrased it, but the point is...you never know until you're there. And now I'm there, and I can't regret it for a moment.
