Posted Date: January 18, 2009author:LDCategories:Mostly a pictureWeekend bonus shotWeekend bonus shot, 01.17.09 Play break, Berkeley, CA.
You know… I used to be cynical about children; I didn’t want to have any. Then I found your blog and I started seeing how wonderful kids are. Now I can’t wait to raise some, preferably with a “beloved” of my own (well, I can wait a little: I should grow up first!)
I was just feeling warm and mushy on the inside, so I thought I should tell you before I go back to being an annoying teenager.
Thanks!
Francisco
Yahoo! Thanks for sharing, before you went back to your annoying teenager ways (I won’t tell your parents if you won’t!). I’m tellin’ you, though: it’s totally a “if you liked the book, you’ll love the movie” kind of thing. Kids: if you really like adult humans, you’ll probably love smaller ones. Especially if they’re yours.
I had major concerns that I would neither understand them nor be remotely charmed by them, since I am prone to adult forms of humor (irony, obscure cultural references, etc.) and am allergic to what I saw as “kid culture”: commercialism up the wazoo, cutsie-pie hoo-ha. Ick.
But in truth, watching a homo sapiens develop right in front of your very eyes is TOTALLY FASCINATING, plus educational. Surprise! They see the world different than you do! Gets me every time.
I’m all for getting ya-ya’s out first, too. Mine had been out and around and up and down the block long before I found my True Love, who as it happened absolutely HAD to have kids. But so I was all seasoned and ready for this particular adventure when it came a-knockin’. I also highly recommend multiple years with your beloved, ideally with a super-challenging relationship crisis parked right in the middle of them, so you can test-drive all the processing/recovery/trust-building machinery.
At least for our parts I can say, whenever this parenting young children thing is challenging (which it is, like 50% of the time), that it’s a darn good thing we can look at each other and know that in another several years we’ll have a majority of our old relationship back. ‘Cause it’s been radically transmogrified for the past four, and there’s another several pre-school years yet to go.
So, my young onion (as Twisty would say), I applaud your warm and mushy, and encourage you to keep the kiddle night light burning. Kinda dim, in the background, with the red bulb for you and your sweetie in the foreground. 🙂
Thanks for the sound advice! I should print this out and keep it someplace safe, where I’ll find it again in a few years (the back of my closet might work, considering how often I clean it out).
When –many years from now– I’ve been in a relationship for a considerable time, I’ll start sending my beloved posts from this blog; just subtle hints that I want to be surrounded by a kid or two 😉