The Orchid Journal

Some people want to have children and do, some people want children, can't, and understandably grieve. I am in neither camp, however, so these are some of the reasons I am HIGHLY looking forward to being married without children: 1. Being able to go home after work and rest or make dinner/eat dinner with my husband in peace. 2. Having frequent date nights with my husband, anytime, anyplace, for as long as we want without having to worry about finding childcare. 3. Not needing to pay for childcare...or for that matter, diapers, medicine, food, clothes, toys, extra car insurance when they get to be teenagers, college tuition... 4. Using the money which would have gone to the above items for long vacations and excursions around the country, Europe or the world instead. 5. Or... using the money to sponsor children through Compassion, donate to shelters in the area, give to my church, help my friends or family, give nice presents to my nieces and nephews, get out of deb...

Photo of painting "Earth" by Birgit Huttemann-Holz found here-- http://www.georgiamuseum.org/kressproject/view-entry/earth Human nature makes it nearly impossible to avoid comparing one's lot to another person's. Only a month ago I was having a dark day and off-handedly remarked about it to a choir member. She threw her arm around my shoulders, leaned in and said she understood and felt similarly. "Would you like to swap lives for a week? You might not feel the same when you're done." She said it in a manner which slightly insinuated, "Try living my life and you'll see you have nothing to complain about." We laughed. Thinking about this conversation later slowly resulted in a numb realization. Despite the terror of facing our own miseries, in the end, we would not (and just plain cannot) trade it for anyone else's suffering. The problem with suffering, besides the pain of it, is that it seems to be tailor-made. No two peo...

The upside of being gifted is that you don't necessarily care what you do with your life because you find everything interesting and are good at everything. The downside to being gifted is that you are good at, and interested in everything and you don't necessarily care what you do with your life.