Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Mini-van birth control meets the vanilla latte

This past weekend, PC and I travelled North to attend a funeral for a close relative who passed away after his courageous battle with cancer. We got the news late Thursday night of his passing, and we made some quick travel plans to attend the services. My cousin, who also lives just outside of Ottawa, was also planning to make the trek for the service, so we decided to all travel together in her mini-van, as she was bringing her two young boys with her, while her husband was out of town for the weekend.

These boys are what I consider to be good kids. Yes, they are boys, and somewhat a little more rambunctious than girls may be - but overall they fall into the 'good kids' category.

So...why, has spending 16 hours in a mini-van with these little munchkins, have me feeling like I am on a new form of birth control?

Well... mainly because I am not sure how my cousin does it? Seriously.. her little guys are on the go from the time they get up in the morning to the time they go to bed at night: playing toys, eating, drinking, crying, talking, eating, running, screaming, napping, eating, watching TV... did I mention eating?

In all seriousness, I am not sure how she functions every day of the week. I am exhausted today, just from the car ride home, and I did not participate in putting them to bed, bathing them, brushing their teeth, reading them stories, or getting up with them this AM, choosing their clothes, preparing and packing their snacks, dropping them off to daycare, etc. All I did this morning was get up, shower, grab a coffee, and drag myself through the entrance of my office. That in itself was exhausting enough for me, let alone even thinking about two other human beings that I would need to be responsible for... and at the end of the day still managing to be a fun-loving, good-hearted person - like she is.

Yet... having said all of this, I can see how rewarding parenting is for her - her kids are funny, outgoing, smart, not shy, polite, adventurous, hugable and lovable - which are all the reasons why parenting must be so much fun. I am sure when you are actually a parent, the rewards most definitely outweigh the drawbacks, but somehow at this stage, I am having trouble deciding if parenting is going to be my cup of tea?

I guess that's it... parenting is probably not a cup of tea, not even close - not simply, not easy, not cheap, but I am hoping, for me, it's more like a like a vanilla latte, complex, expensive, yet soooooo good once you actually indulge in it.

Yes... these are my hopes, mini-van birth control drowned out by the taste of a vanilla latte.
I guess this is a good excuse to get over to Starbucks, now isn't it!

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