After more than a few years of parenting, we have come to the conclusion that kids have indeed changed our lives in two unexpected ways:
Fathers made weak. I completely related to Michelle Obama talking about driving home from the hospital with a newborn, and driving 15MPH. The day that tiny life was put in my hands I changed from a typical teenager in a middle-aged body who liked action flicks with lots of shooting to a guy who got tears in his eyes when he saw a dog get hit by a car. Life really did become more precious to me. I had never been afraid of heights, but now my heart jumps thinking the kids might fall. I now drive slower and climb ladders more carefully. I worry about everything.
Mothers made dumb. My wife has a theory that kids make mothers dumb. Their constant interuptions and questions make long complicated thought impossible. Mothers who once were scholars become unable to remember why they walked into a room. All day, every day, for year after year, mothers rarely get time to sit and think. Time to write or even read. When the kids are little, nap time is the time to do laundry. If you have more kids, then nap time doesn't matter, because one of them is always awake, unless you stay up later than them and rise earlier than them, but that results in lack of sleep and even more tired brains.
Italian Gilt Bronze Clock
2 months ago