Kids: Just Do It

Yes. I’m sayin’ it. Preachin’ and proselytizin’. I’m shouting it out to passersby in the street (which is awkward because most of them are gay):

YOU SHOULD HAVE KIDS!!! Everyone should do this!!

So, we were a little late getting started (late is a relative term, I understand). We always knew we wanted kids *in theory* but neither of us really felt ready. Or eager. Or wealthy enough.

As 32 came and went, my biological clock began ticking louder and louder, until finally, we pulled the trigger. There was nothing magical or exciting about it, even when we found out. We were just sort of going through the motions.

Blah de blah de blah: fast forward to life post-Lucie’s birth: WOW.

You want to really know what nobody ever told me? Nobody ever really told me about how awesome or magical or fulfilling it is each and every day. Really.

I heard a lot of the other side: “Ah, you’ll never be able to go out again,” “you’ll never get to travel again,” etc., etc. I was honestly ready to accept a life of staying at home, having a flabby belly, watching Sesame Street, driving a minivan, wearing high-waisted jeans and decorative Christmas sweaters, and listening to old Hootie and the Blowfish songs in the car. I thought that’s just what happened. It’s like Ariel trading her voice to the Sea Witch for getting to live above the sea and fall in love with a human hottie.

Well, I have great news: it couldn’t be more different. Yes, there are tantrums and blow-out poops and some long, sleepless nights… and even if all those things did come to fruition, I would still be so much more immensely happy and fulfilled than I ever was pre-baby.

When I tell my married (and not-so-married) friends they ought to do this, I always get the same skeptical why-do-you-want-me-to-suffer look. Or maybe I’m just imagining it because that’s what I used to think. But seriously, I feel like it’s my civic duty to report the truth of the matter.

So I’m sayin’ it: pull the trigger, do the deed, take the plunge, don’t wait too long!

And by the way, that controversial piece in New York Magazine simply couldn’t be any more wrong, for reasons which comprise a whole other blog post. It makes me sad that people really believe this.

Happy Holidays.