I have a friend who’s thinking about having a baby. What’s it like she asked me, fresh from her third skiing holiday of the season. I chuckled evilly and gave her the low down about sleepless nights, vomit, screaming, no more weekend breaks etc. She said coldly “you’re putting me off here, tell me the good things”. It occurred to me that a big problem with child rearing is that the bad things are all very tangible and easy to describe (consider the list above) but the good things are intangible and particularly hard to describe to someone who doesn’t have children.� But the other day, Dooce wrote this and I think that it’s a great example of one of the good things about having children: “This morning you and I were playing on the floor in your bedroom I was hiding the phone and you were crawling all over my torso and legs to find it and you suddenly stopped, your face very close to mine, and you leaned in and pressed your nose to my cheek. We stayed in that position for several spectacular seconds, a hesitation that altered history, a moment so intimate it felt like it could end wars. I could feel you grinning on my skin and even though I wanted to scoop you up and cover you in kisses I let you hold your face there for as long as you would. I know there are only a handful of moments like that in life. Thank you for that one.”
Comments
jackdalton
on 09 April 2005 at 21:48
‘ waf, you seem top have a gift for spotting the spot. That would go to the heart. If a guy had one.. 
Locotes
on 10 April 2005 at 18:17
Well ok…I suppose that sounds good….but still….I mean….the whole sleepless nights, vomit, screaming, no more weekend breaks thing….you know?
Mikeachim
on 10 April 2005 at 23:26
That’s really nice….
*sigh*
As much as it is possible for men to be genuinely broody, there are time I feel broody.
*realises what he has said*
Er. Hey, any guys that are listening, er, harrumm *cough* *spits* hey, what I mean is, waHEY, lots of practice at making babies first, naaarwhatimean? Oink oink.
*quietly*
But one day….yeah….
poggle
on 11 April 2005 at 10:48
That’s lovely.
But nothing – nothing – could make me broody; it runs in the family (though obviously not for long ….).
belgianwaffle
on 11 April 2005 at 20:31
Hey people, do you think responses to this email sort out the slightly older from the slightly younger? Pog, Locotes, you young people are so unsentimental…
Locotes
on 11 April 2005 at 20:38
Ah sure I have my 50′s to worry about the kids. Once I have my money made, my Ferrari bought, and my supermodels wooed.
*cheeky grin*
