Comments on: Jesse

By: NTE

NTE — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:15:54 +0000

I’ve never been here before, but while wondering, this post really touched my heart.

I remember so clearly when my 1st little sister was born – I was four and she was mine. 2 additional little sisters, multiple cousins, 4 kindergarten classrooms, 2 nephews and a niece later, I still know in my heart that all I’ll ever want to be is a mother. Not knowing if it’ll ever happen for me is one of the hardest things I have to live with. But I think that I’ll always know, and that I’ll show it however I can.

I’ll definitely be back: thank you for such a moving post.

By: tash

tash — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:42:57 +0000

At my highschool there were a number of people (some of whom I knew) who got pregnant and dropped out. My bf from 4th grade (a creative writing genius) by 10th grade had moved to CA with a bf and had a baby. I never heard from her again. To me, babies were poison that prevented you from doing anything, going anywhere, learning things.

I dug my HS boyfriend’s much younger sister. And one day when I was 18 or so, I was biking through the university campus with said bf when I saw a dad and a toddler playing on the steps of a building. Something in my expression must have been revealing because bf said, “you’re going to make a great mom someday.” He was a sentimental nut like that so I blew it off with an eye roll, but that stranger toddler — that happy boy so content with his dad that it brought a smile to my cynical self, was the vision I carried through my 20s and then into my 30s when I wondered if I could do this, for real. If it might not be poison.

You can stop laughing now.

great post, bon.

By: Beck

Beck — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:39:49 +0000

I was 13 when my youngest brother was born. That and an adolescence spent babysitting made kids fairly known quantities to me.

My husband’s mom had him when she was 17. Just a baby herself.

By: EarnestGirl

EarnestGirl — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:12:38 +0000

My husband’s nieces and nephews. And after 20 years, they are my nieces and nephews too. They were babies, and little enthusiastic children, all cheek and softness and skinned knees when I met them. Now they are grown, and I have had the breath-taking privilege of watching (and sometimes even helping) them grow.

But I still see the baby in their faces. Even the ones over 6 feet.

By: misty

misty — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:31:10 +0000

I never did, guess I never got the chance, I was the one with the baby.

But oh how I longed to be the friend visiting, who got to float off back to their carefree life at times.

By: niobe

niobe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:42:57 +0000

I never had any interest in babies until I held my own.

By: anymommy

anymommy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:15:46 +0000

I can’t think of a baby in my past around my tears and the pain in my heart and my wish that they not grow quite this fast. Gorgeous writing.

By: Janet

Janet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:50:31 +0000

I was 11 when my baby sister was born. I had plenty of practice mothering her, which both sealed my sureness that I wanted to be a mother and made me want to put it off for a long while.

Interestingly, a good friend of mine announced her pregnancy as I was heading off to university. Her “baby” is now in her first year of university. And she friended me on facebook. Blow mind.

By: ewe_are_here

ewe_are_here — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:53:48 +0000

Lovely post.

I don’t think there was ever a particular baby or child that had me imagining my own, oddly enough. I never babysat growing up. I changed one diaper –my cousin’s 11 month old– once when I was in my 20s. And, other than seeing a few little ones of friends and acquaintances on occasions, that was the extent of it…

Strange how life turns out sometimes.

By: cheesefairy

cheesefairy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:32:59 +0000

This is *such* a beautiful post.

When my best friend had her daughter, I suddenly knew I wanted to have a baby. I was 30. Until then I had absolutely no interest in having any babies, no ma’am.

Maybe if I had met a 13-month-old…they are so entrancing.