I've still been contemplating about a recent post I made. A conversation with a friend reminded me of a recurring situation that happens much more often than I'd like. At my age, it's ever more increasingly difficult to find single, sociable women, and though I want to say I love spending time with my friends who have children, sometimes I am not quite so sure. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE my friends; it's just that conversations rarely encompass anything other than diaper-changing, bed times, and my personal favorite, breastfeeding. I can contribute a LOT to those discussions, let me tell you!
The problem is that most people, especially women, are surprised to discover that I am fairly confident I don't want children. More importantly, it's so easy for them to forget that not everyone has the same "life" plan. Something having to do with societal norms - get married at age X, have child #1 at age Y, have child #1.5 at age Z, and so on. So, how do you handle someone in your group that has a different idea for her life plan? Do you impose your own standards onto her, or do you try to learn her own? In environments where I am very much an anomaly, there tend to be few who want to hear my perspective. Then again, that's just me being different again...
Children love me. It's true. And I love them. Truly, I do. I just like to give them back to their parents at the end of the day.
p.s. I would like to give a shout-out to all of the remarkable people in the world who have chosen one of the most loving and selfless acts I can think of - the act of adopting a child. ALL children deserve to be loved.
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Humiliation
After several years in a job I did not love at an employer I did not love, I made a move at the beginning of the year. Though I certainly do...
I love this. I was recently at a baby shower with some rather pretentious women. As they asked about me, and whether I have kids, I replied, like always, that I have two wonderful teenage stepchildren, and we're a happy family. Looking down their noses at what is apparently a "predicament" to them, they all seemed to reply "that sounds interesting" or "that must be really hard". I smiled, and replied "No, actually they are at the age where we can enjoy the same movies and jokes, and I never had to change their diapers or go through these labor pains you all keep complaining about!" Shut them up real quick.
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