A Mom's Life

Not everyone should have kids. Not everyone is kid friendly. I get that and respect that. We all know the planet has enough people. There is no need for us all to be reproducing to populate the earth. My brother is a perfect example. For years, he and his wife have been fairly outspoken in regard to their lack of interest in having children. They hope to retire early, and now enjoy the ability to vacation several times a year and seem to have very full lives with their cat and two (super high maintenance) dogs. They like spending time with kids but like them more when they go home with someone else. And I'm not going to argue with him. I've never tried to convince him to have kids and respect their decision. They aren't shy about expressing their anti-baby opinion but it must be that they are surrounded by so many expectant parents and new parents that they are beginning to question their decision- at least a little. Recently, my brother pressed me about why I decided to...

About a year ago, when Andy and I returned home from work one day, we heard a message on the answering machine. It was some insurance woman or someone like that, leaving an uninteresting message for Andy. I paid little attention to the voice until Andy simply stated, "You know, she's younger than you." That stopped me in my tracks. "What do you mean, she's younger than me? What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "I dunno. It doesn't matter." Andy back-tracked. "She's younger than you." A stupid statement that cost Andy the rest of the night. I could not forget those words he said nor could I stop trying to decode their meaning. I bombarded him with questions. Who was the woman on the phone? How did Andy know her? What did she look like? Was she younger than me? Why did any of this matter to Andy? My husband usually knows better than to provoke the jealous green monster that lives within me and hides in my insecurity. It...