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Diary

On Having Children

Namely Daughters…

When D was born, I really didn’t have any idea what to expect not only from the experience of childbirth, and a homebirth at that but of what babies and later kids would mean for my life. I don’t think it is ever possible to anticipate the impact children will have, and I, living in the moment, really did little to plan my next steps. Julia and I had our new bundle of joy and improvised as usual. At almost four years old, D is an amazing little girl who loves everything stereotypically girly.

  1. The color pink in every shade
  2. The movies Frozen or Moana or The Little Mermaid or…
  3. All things ballet
  4. Ghostbusters… all three movies. Yes, all three, even the reboot. Not really sure that is girly, but I love it.

As a parent now of a second amazing daughter V, I can surely say that all kids are different. The lessons I learned with D are not the same lessons I am now learning with V. I thought I had figured it out. One kid down, I got this, but that is not the case. It is also like every time you think you have parenting figured out, your kids will test the boundaries where you failed to prepare. Kind of like Jurassic Park.

Clever Girl

All that being said, my daughters are the best thing I have ever done. Some folks out there may sneer, “YOUR CHILDREN ARE THE BEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?” I get it. The idea that my hopes and dreams are projected on these two little girls who haven’t done much of anything at this point. Yeah, yeah. My life shouldn’t be wrapped up in my children. But on the other side, all the parents out there get it. My girls are my everything. They are literally the reason I want to get up in the morning (and often are the reason I wake up at 5:30). Their view of the world is why Donald Trump doesn’t fill me with ongoing fear. My daughters will be president. BOTH OF THEM.

They certainly have the best last name to get them there.

All this is to say, I also blame them for the lack of all my creative inklings. They are where I put all my energy. They are where my podcasts, my writings, my paintings, my doodles, and my dreams lie. Right now, all the energy goes to them. But, good news, we will all reap the benefit of these amazing engines of creativity and positivity. Eventually, the compound interest in these wiggly, giggly little bank accounts of humanity will pay out dividends of awesome things. I’m sure of it.

They already brighten my life exponentially. We all just need to be patient.