Happy Mothers Day

I'm not a parent but even I got wished a Happy Mothers Day today as I ran errands.  Pretty funny.  I think it's become sort of like "Happy Holidays!" or something.  Store clerks figure I'm of an age to have children and that they might as well play it safe and wish me a happy one.

During the most miserable, difficult, isolated period of my life during my early to mid-30s, this well-intended greeting would send me into wild grief, specifically for  my lack of children and a family of my own. 

Mercifully, those days are over, as is the sorrow. I might have made a good mother if 1) the circumstances of my life then had been different (e.g., if I'd been married and able to have children, for starters!), and 2) I were the person then that I am now.

However, that's not the way my life went, and that turns out to be okay.  Would I choose to have children now? No, frankly.  I'm too old, too unwilling to sacrifice in the way that one needs to in order to be a good parent, too unwilling to do a half-assed job.  That's okay, too. There are enough half-assed parents in the world.

But I must say that some of my friends who have kids -- even those who had terrifically difficult lives growing up themselves -- have produced some stellar children.  Genuinely likable, thoughtful, interesting people from the get-go, ones who will clearly make the world a better place for having been in it.

Now, those are the folks who should have kids!