“I ultimately get the last laugh because we are free to live any way we please!”

Darcie, 39, USA

I grew up as the oldest daughter – being the sidekick and helper to my single mom. Over the years I got a close up view of how miserable and depleting being a single parent can be.

Of course, as a young child I just assumed I would have kids as most do. But as I grew into being a teenager and young adult, I didn’t want to take the traditional path with anything.

Until I was 25 I lived a life I considered adventurous – traveling around the US and sometimes foreign countries, working odd jobs, meeting new people and trying to figure out what I wanted to “do” with my life.

Kids never factored into that for me – I was never fully interested and figured if I was going to bring a life into the world, I should be fully on board with the idea. It shocked me when people told me I should “have just one, for the experience” …for the EXPERIENCE??? I was dumbfounded. Create a life in a world that seems to always be falling apart for the EXPERIENCE?! Excuse me but what the fuck?

I also felt sorry for moms, mainly my own, but that extended to all moms. They seemed trapped between a rock and a hard place. Barely offered any respect in our society, persecuted by the workforce for having children …motherhood just looked bad from every angle.

I am going to be 40 next spring and though the smug oversharing and unspoken judgement of parents is annoying, I ultimately get the last laugh because my husband and I are, with our three dogs, free to live any way we please!

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