Motherhood

While IMing with my "mean" bloggy friend about my current state of depression, he gave me another assignment. And it has a deadline so I must get this out without much thinking. I mentioned something about the fact that sometimes I think I shouldn't have had kids. My older sister had 3 at a very young age, and it was 16 years before I, the "baby" of the family, had children. I don't know what possessed me to do such a thing. It's not as if I longed for children all my life or grew up thinking about being a mother. Like the other parts of my life, it just came along as the next step (college, marriage, children etc). My assignment said I couldn't write the 2 lists below side-by-side but one after the other so they weren't parallel. Here goes:

Why I shouldn't have become a mother:

1. Couldn't afford them (WHAT was I thinking?)
2. Not a good cook or, worse yet, good planner of meals.
3. Not spontaneous (no lemonade stands for my kids)
4. Love to sleep (late and often) yet lived on very little
   
5. Not adventurous enough (no skateboards or roller skates or hand gliding)
6. Our house was never big enough to accommodate more than the 4 us, and sometimes even then, it was too crowded.
7. Not the volunteer kind of mom (no PTO or room mother here)
8. Didn't love my husband enough to pass that along to my kids.
9. My housecleaning skills were questionable (although we didn't live in a pig sty)
   
10. Too loud, emotional, depressed to to have children in the mix.
    

Why I'm a great mother:

1. Great sense of humor (passed that down to my daughters)
   
2. High pain threshold (2 natural births and no tears over skinned knees)
3. When my older daughter turned 2, I learned how to French braid hair.
4. Saw the wonder in a rainbow every time.
5. Strong morals & values (education, commitment, volunteerism, doing the right thing)
6. Could proofread their papers (only thing my degree/expertise was good for)
7. Practical (don't cry over spilled milk)
8. Creative (made all their Halloween costumes)
9. Tried not to worry too much and passed that along to my kids
10. I write thank you notes, send birthday cards, and was nice to old people at church