Not Kidding

In the middle of a long e-mail thread, the conversation turned to kids and how none of us wanted to have them. B went into kind of a panic when E brought them up, and E said something like, "Paano na lang ang mga pangarap mo sa buhay, di ba?"*

I then said, "E, may mga tao na ang pangarap nila sa buhay ay magkaanak."** The atmosphere of the conversation (electronic though it was) didn't feel particularly inviting toward the idea, though, so I made some lame segue to the season finale of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," in which Kourtney gives birth.

B then jumped in saying, yeah, we all want kids, but not right now. And it went back and forth like that for a while before the conversation turned back toward someone B's been seeing.

I didn't say anything more after my one comment. But really, I wanted to say, "Screw you all, I want four kids and a dog and fish and a turtle or two and a house to clean and homework to check and diapers to change and teenagers to yell at, braces to pay for and PTA to quarrel and preschool play costumes to make and to have to pick up the middle child's best friend from across town at the last minute, sleepovers to say no to and stray kittens to say yes to and unsavory shit hidden under my oldest son's mattress, and goddammit, I can't wait to get started!"

I guess I don't get my friends.

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* What's gonna happen to your dreams in life, right?
** There are some people whose dream in life is to have kids.