You will never regret it ...

Saturday, April 28, 2007 Today as I sat at the soccer fields watching Breeanna and Harleigh's socer game, I realized how much my life has chagned in just a short 5 years. I don't mean the loss of sleeping in on weekends or late nights out that Cint and I use to do. I mean the things that NO "child birthclasses" could EVER teach ANYone! 1. You will never again read a newspaper without asking "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt you. That when you sees pictures of starving children, you will wonder if anything couldbe worse than living through a loss of your own child. 2. That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause your heart to drop and nothing is as important than getting to your child without a moment's hesitation. 3. No matter how many years you have invested in your career, you will be professionally derailed by motherhood. You might arrange for childcare, but one day you will be going into an important business meeting and will think of your baby's sweet smell. You will have to use every ounce of your discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure your baby is all right. 4. Every day decisions will no longer be routine. When a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that restroom. 5. However decisive you may be at the office, you will second-guess yourself constantly as a mother. Are you doing the right things for your child? Are you helping them grow or not letting them grow up enough? Are you loving them to much by not letting go at the right moments, or are you letting go to soon? 6. You eventually will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but you will never feel the same about yourself. Your life, that was once so important, will be of less value to you once you have a child. You would give it up in a moment to save your offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years . . . not to accomplish your own dreams, but to watch your child accomplish theirs. 7. A Cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks become badges of honor. Your relationship with your husband will change, but not in the way you would think. You will love him in a whole new way . . . you look at him a differnt way. He now is the man who changes diapers, makes a bottle in the middle of the night, lays on the floor staring at your child, and who never hesitates to play with his child. You will fall in love with him again for reasons that are unexplainable. 8. You are grateful for woman throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving. Somehow . . . you can talk rationally about most issues in this world, but become temporarily insane when you discuss the threat of nuclear war when it will concer your children's future. 9. The exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike. How priceless the sound of a belly laugh from your baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time. How tears weld up in your eyes as your child walks off to kindergarten for the first time. How your heart breaks when your child falls and skins their knee. The joy that is so real, it actually hurts. the pain that is so real, you feel it, too. I am SO grateful to have Clint and my kids in my life. There is not a moment that goes by that I do not thank God. For all of you out there that do not have kids yet . . . you will NEVER regret it . . . You will never regret it!!!