"The world must be peopled", so the Bard said. Around half of the people on my "Friends" list have had babies in last few months or are pregnant. (Kudos here goes to Brandon's wife a baby six months ago and expecting another one in five months.) At work there are six new babies, including one who comes in every day with her mom. Two babies were blessed today at church, with another born just last week. Other acquaintances whom I haven't seen in quite a while are having babies this spring - two of Matt's former coworkers, my fiddle teacher, a crumhornist, etc. I starting to realize that I've permanently moved from the stage when my friends got married to the stage when my friends are married and have children.
Not many of my relatives, however, are having babies. This isn't strictly true. I'm sure that someone of my many maternal cousins are reproducing, but I can't keep track of them any more. However, on my father's side, we've only got my brother, my sister, and me and then two bachelor Norwegian farmer cousins. In other words, my brother is the only one doing his duty by the species.
On Matt's side it gets grimmer. One his mother's side, they haven't had a new baby in about a decade. That's a long time. His father's side is proving more fertile, but there is a catch. Matt is the only son of an only producing son* of an only son of an only son. This means he is the last male of his line, so all the hopes of an heir to the Reed name rest with us. (However we've already adopted Samuel as a back up in case I fail to produce a male child.)
With all of these babies everywhere and the lack in our families, you might think we would start to want one. Sometimes I do, especially when I get to play with my friends' babies.
Fortunately for Matt (who has a horror of children), I teach the 3, 4, and 5 year olds at church (sunbeams and CTR 5 together - a bad idea, made worse by the fact that I have two Michaels and Shyler and Shyla, but this a different story). Their antics make me wonder if this whole children thing is for us.
But I still like children and I am genuinely happy for all of you brave souls venturing into parenthood. As old Bill said, "Let copulation thrive"!
*Matt does have a Reed uncle, but he is another bachelor Norwegian (really Danish) farmer.
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7 comments:
This is one friend who promises not to have a baby for at least 10 months.
I love the reference to your "bachelor Norwegian farmer cousins." Sounds very . . . Cold Comfort-y. I mean that as a compliment.
Avram feels a lot of pressure from his family, especially his two grandfathers to produce a male heir to carry the lines on, and he even has three other brothers, one of whom is married. Although I guess if you're going to adopt Samuel then his line now belongs to you, so that only leaves one married brother. It all makes me glad that for some reason girls don't count as carrying on lines, because no one cares on my side of the family what we have (although Matt's family seems laid back about it, too).
We'll come visit and bring lots of adorable girls with us, and maybe that'll bring Matt around. We'll even leave all sticky candy at home, for extra good measure. (He's resisted Lydia thus far, but now she's old enough to be a "person" and not a baby).
Is this some Samuel that I am not aware of? Or was I involved in some form of ritual that has been purged from my memory? If I was then it is good to know that I am useful to someone in some manner.
And if it helps any Aleatha is not pregnant. However Matt should get busy producing some form of heir if he wants to maintain an Alpha Male spot.
No one in my family cares about carrying on the male line, because the name "Moberly" is actually the name of my Grandpa's adoptive father. In reality my family's name should be "Tucker". I guess that is carried on through my brother's middle name. But anyway, Moberly does not have too much meaning, since hasn't been my family's name for generations.
I support visits from all little girls and from most little boys - this is a good way of getting over baby hunger, either by temporarily sating it or by making you question it.
Samuel - I think we claimed you to keep the alpha male spot, but Matt doesn't remember that either, so I may have made that up.
Aleatha - the same thing happened in Matt's mother's family; spices up the family history.
I would love to see you as a Primary teacher... That's my daughter's class! (of course, she's deaf, so that's a whole different deal). The boys in her class get in fist fights and Rachel is learning to fight back. Yay!
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