Couldn't help being drawn into this.
I'm the mother of one son. You think that would satisfy people. No. For
the past 16 years I have been bombarded by people telling me how selfish I
am to have had only one. Total strangers would ask me why I didn't have
more children.
Let me tell you, some of us are natural-born mothers and some of us (like
me) are not. My son has been raised by a lot of flying by the seat of the
pants, and his mom - me - is now happy that he's a teenager so that I have
more time to myself to write.
Selfish? Okay, to some people, that's what I am. But I'm happier and son
is happier, and I intend to find out as much about myself as I can and to
develop as many parts of me as I can. Being a mother answered some of
these questions and showed me a whole lot of parts to me that surprised me.
But it is also important to follow one's own path, whether with a child or
not.
And yes, to Tanya and Joan, women have been chiefly defined for thousands
of years by their ability to give birth and mother. Up until the present
time, birth control was not an option for most women, and most women had no
say in what their lives could be. At this point, with more effective birth
control, women have more choices. We stumble along, trying out different
roles for ourselves and we make a lot of mistakes along the way. But we
also have more of an opportunity to find out who and what we are.
And if some of us prefer to be childless or to have only one child, that is
an option we now have. Amen!!
Rebekah
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:30 PDT