tick tick tick

The clock is ticking away the last remaining hours of my non-parenthood. Alas and alack, Phet and I will no longer be able to finish complete sentences as of tomorrow. We will have to take turns going to see movies again. We won't be able to watch just as damn much of Napoleon Dynamite as we want to watch. Nope. The spawn is on its way back to us. Ack!

It was pretty funny - people at school kept asking me if I missed Ji and I'm like, "Yeah...well...sure...but, uh, no, not really I guess. I know he's coming back." I love the boy dearly, but I've certainly enjoyed living inside my own brain for a few weeks. Child-free adults have life damn easy. (Ok, ok, except for jobless or homeless or loveless or persecuted or imprisoned or tormented or ill or depressed or moneyless or spiritually bereft adults that is). I'm sure you spawners out there will agree with me: we don't wake up leisurely on Sunday mornings and say, "oh darling, shall we just lounge in bed till noon or ought we go out for brunch?" as Phet and I did this past weekend. You learn really quickly after your first child is born that LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. You will get up when the child gets up. You will feed them. You will play with them. You will entertain them. You will bathe and dress them. You will air them out. Then you'll repeat those same steps all over again. And again, and again, and again, until you linger no longer. (Ok, ok, it will shift eventually to just worrying about the kid all the time even if you never see them). The centre of your universe is no longer you. Ha ha, your YOU-niverse becomes a THEM-niverse.

Mind you, although being a parent is 100% demanding, it certainly has its perks. An endless source of amusing anecdotes belongs to you! You can finally empathize with your own mother! You will re-learn the words to all those old nursery rhymes you once knew! You'll be forced to do laundry on a regular basis! Your genes will live on and prosper! You and your husband / wife will always have at least one thing to talk about! And you can finally train someone to smell your dirty socks, just for laffs! Ah, that does put it into perspective. Can't wait to see my wee boy. [Ji Hong-19-September-2005]