Two houses down and across the street lives the sweetest woman. She is in her 80’s at least and always smiles and always has a wave for me and my kids.
Each time we spot her she is surrounded with her little furry army of four legged, liver loving friends. She is indeed our neighborhood’s “crazy cat lady”.
One day last weekend she was walking (yes, with a leash) the fluffy orange one with chubby cheeks and a waddle so cute, it almost made me giggle out loud.
She looked happy.
Actually, she looked almost euphoric with her house robe wound tightly around her fully clothed self.
She had bobby pins in her hair to hold the waves she was trying to create on the roots of her hair and she had big round clear framed eye glasses to complete her stereotypical, cute, elderly lady look.
Ok, back to her looking so cheerful. I began wondering what her life is like with no kids.
She had mentioned to me in a previous conversation that her and her husband chose not to have any children because she was the oldest of 14 kids and she raised most of her siblings. Holy moly, I only have 2 and I’m happy to say I feel that my little family is undoubtedly complete.
So, what would life be like with no kids? I mean, I love my kids infinitely and in an effort not to spark any negative “but you should be grateful for your babes” kind of comments, I will say that I wouldn’t trade them for ANYTHING in this entire world!
I Love My Kids Endlessly But Let’s Keep It Real
But also, in the same effort to keep it real and keep you smiling, lets just let our minds wonder and think about a few things I might be doing RIGHT NOW if I didn’t have any kids:
- Enjoying my morning coffee with no anxiety that one might wake up and abolish any chance I might have to read a little or watch a rerun of Game of Thrones.
- Taking a really long bubble bath.
- Taking a really long NAP.
- Thinking if I should have had kids by now.
- Not cleaning the smudge marks off of the backseat windows from too many dirty fingers and who the heck knows what.
- Not asking every restaurant waiter/waitress if they can make us a bowl of butter noodles to substitute the sushi/ burger/ or taco place we are currently eating at.
- Curing Cancer…KIDDING, but with all those extra brain cells and all that extra energy from NOT having any kids siphon out of me..I total think I could!
- Reducing the amount of people I get dressed in the morning..I mean from 3 to only 1…and that would be myself..which brings me to the next thing I’d do…
- Look gorgeous ALL the time, not half homeless and definitely not bra less!
- Enjoying my queen size bed with zero kicks in the face and zero kids rolling over on top of me.
- Never stepping on a Lego in the middle of the night!
- Not trying to discipline the ME out of a tiny human that mostly resembles me. (ugh….why is she so much like me? shhhh, don’t tell my mom I said that!)
- Enjoying whatever music I want without having to defend the radio from hands ready to rob me of reminiscing on fantastic pop music during my college years!
- Have a gloriously clean house.
- Treating Walmart like it’s supposed to be treated, like a quick trip in and out..not a 4 hour dazzling and rejuvenating stay-cation without my kids.
- Last but not least…I’d be feeling lost. Lost without two tiny exhausting humans by my side. Lost without my two very best friends. Lost without ever feeling the pride and joy of creating a little human!
So, there you have it, a few things I’d be doing if I didn’t have any kids at all.
So, thank you Mrs. Sanders for the brief and tranquil moment I had to reflect about what it would be like to have a clean home, look fabulous all the time and enjoy my coffee every morning without stepping on ANY Legos.
P.S. I would also like to thank my dear cat loving neighbor for reminding me that every “mommy, mom and mama” I hear is a reminder that through every exhausting yawn and every tiny sock I have to pick up after my kids is a reminder of how NOT LONELY I am.
It’s a reminder the legacy I’ll leave behind and it’s a reminder of how God specifically chose ME to parent these two amazing creatures.
