My life without kids…

This week, Mama Kat’s Writing prompts included something I couldn’t resist. A chance to imagine my life without kids… I had to try it out.

 

I have friends that don’t have kids yet.  Sometimes I’m envious of the life they lead. I’ve been a mom for eight and a half years now. Those years have had their ups and downs, but sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t have kids. Aren’t there days when you do the same? Don’t lie!

There would be no toys on the floor (unless they’re Hubs’), there’d be no toothpaste in the sink (unless it’s Hubs’).  I would have a full-time job (maybe in publishing like I always wanted) that I would have to get up for instead of getting up to get the boy off to school.  I could have my weekends to myself (maybe a date-night with Hubs) and I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a babysitter if I wanted to go out.  Maybe Hubs and I would have a house of our own instead of our current living situation.  We could host dinner parties and poker games.  Hubs could have a trophy room and I could have a library (hey, I’m imagining…).  There’d be no emergency room visits when someone falls off the swingset or cracks their head open (unless Hubs hurts himself at work).  No Cub Scouts, no dance.  We could go away on vacation and it wouldn’t have to be kid-friendly and don’t even get me started on the money…  Oh!  And I’d be thin!

But…

I wouldn’t have my kids.  I wouldn’t have the laughter and the smiles.  The giggles and the hugs.  I wouldn’t be able to watch my husband play Xbox with my son or push my daughter on the swings.  I wouldn’t be able to watch their joy on Christmas morning when they open that one gift they’ve been asking for all year.  I wouldn’t have that little hand to hold when we’re walking somewhere (oh, I’m so afraid of losing them!) or hear that little voice calling “Mom?” (my ears are tuned to it, aren’t yours?).  I wouldn’t be able to kiss their little sleeping heads

.

Also, I wouldn’t be bombarded everyday with facts about Space. (Big Boy is going to be an astronomer/astronaut/astrophysicist one day, I swear it!) I wouldn’t be the Cub Scout leader, or the stage mom (I’m not really a stage mom… yet…). I wouldn’t be able to go to the spray park or the children’s museum or the playground. (Sure, I could do all those things without kids, but I’d look awfully funny don’tcha think? I’d be the weirdo at the park that all the moms make sure their children stay away from…)

Or be able to say things like:

“Put your underwear on, and stop calling yourself a wiener.”  

“Stop picking your nose! C’mere and let me get those boogers for you.”  

“Did you remember to change your underwear?”

“No toys at the table!”

“Are you sure you rinsed ALL the shampoo out of your hair?”

“Did you remember to wipe?”

“Tell me why you need to scream every time the dog comes near you.”

“Is there a reason why you MUST be COMPLETELY naked when sitting on the toilet?”

I wouldn’t be a blogger if I didn’t have my kids.  I wouldn’t be here with you Dear Reader, sharing my stories.  I wouldn’t have my Tastefully Simple business either, and we all know how much I LOVE my business!  I wouldn’t have my mom friends either, gosh I love my mom friends.

I’d probably be a 9 to 5-er.

I’d have “work friends”.  And do “work” things like go to company picnics, and company lunches.

And I’d probably be miserable.

I love being a mom.  Years ago, when my son was a baby, a man once said to me “There are two things you never really know until you have children, love, and fear.”  I love my kids with all my heart and soul. I didn’t know I could love anything as much as I love my kids.  They define who I am and what I want to be.  Sure, I’d like a book deal (pretty please),and a house (pretty, pretty please),  but I think if I can just go through life knowing that I raised my children into responsible loving adults who will one day become good parents, I did what I was meant to do.

I was put on this earth to be Mother to those two little children.  And if God ever decided to take them from me, my life wouldn’t be worth living.

Thanks Mama Kat for helping me to remember why I do it all…

This is an original ROSCMM post.  All opinions expressed are that of Jennifer herself.  This post was written for Mama Kat’s Weekly Writing workshop and has a compensation level of 0. (See my disclosure page for full details.)  And no, you can not steal my stuff.  It’s called Copyright, yo!