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This is copied close to verbatim from my email to a friend who asked how things were in sprog-world:
So when people tell you parenthood is awesome, it is because we have been neuro-chemically rewired to enjoy the experience (sorta like a morphine drip: It isn't that you aren't feeling the pain, just that you don't care about it).
I am pretty damned pleased with sprog-world, not only because of the above rewiring, but because it was something I have always known I wanted and have finally managed to do (though I will say my plans to be a single mom before I met the gent were, in hindsight, pretty insane. At least for the newborn window).
In many ways parenting is like a big-art project (except with fewer committee meetings and a lifelong commitment): Lots of often frustrating work that you try and squeeze employment, personal interests, and hobbies around. It is the triumphs that make the lifestyle hit worth it to you (while people who don't have the same bent are all "WTF? You spent 12 hours of your Saturday failing to get solenoids to do what you wanted? WHY?!?!?")
I think managing contented parenthood involves figuring out how to keep doing the things that are really important to you, being graceful about giving up spontaneity, and accepting that you don't get to keep the pre-kid lifestyle you were accustomed to. For some folks this his harder/costlier than for others.
Heh, also, I think a well developed scatalogial sense of humor is a must. I swear, babies are the embodiment of all bodily function practical jokes*.
All of the above being said, ask me again in a year, I may have changed my opinion.
*Also, we are like twelve so any audible flatulence is blamed on the child, even if he not in the same room.
So when people tell you parenthood is awesome, it is because we have been neuro-chemically rewired to enjoy the experience (sorta like a morphine drip: It isn't that you aren't feeling the pain, just that you don't care about it).
I am pretty damned pleased with sprog-world, not only because of the above rewiring, but because it was something I have always known I wanted and have finally managed to do (though I will say my plans to be a single mom before I met the gent were, in hindsight, pretty insane. At least for the newborn window).
In many ways parenting is like a big-art project (except with fewer committee meetings and a lifelong commitment): Lots of often frustrating work that you try and squeeze employment, personal interests, and hobbies around. It is the triumphs that make the lifestyle hit worth it to you (while people who don't have the same bent are all "WTF? You spent 12 hours of your Saturday failing to get solenoids to do what you wanted? WHY?!?!?")
I think managing contented parenthood involves figuring out how to keep doing the things that are really important to you, being graceful about giving up spontaneity, and accepting that you don't get to keep the pre-kid lifestyle you were accustomed to. For some folks this his harder/costlier than for others.
Heh, also, I think a well developed scatalogial sense of humor is a must. I swear, babies are the embodiment of all bodily function practical jokes*.
All of the above being said, ask me again in a year, I may have changed my opinion.
*Also, we are like twelve so any audible flatulence is blamed on the child, even if he not in the same room.