Tere Does Not Do Shots
We were at an event this past weekend with friends from all walks of life. Straight, gay, married, single – but the most differentiating factor was “with or without” kids. Kids seem to separate the men from the boys a bit. I don’t mean to disparage any “non-kid having people” but honestly nothing is as stressful on your life or your relationships as much as kids. Well, maybe a life-altering accident or an alien invasion but barring something like that…
I’ve tried to explain this to smart, accomplished people with lots of kids in their lives (but none of their own) but it’s completely unfathomable until you have them. Before kids, I really thought I had asked all the right questions and experienced as much as I could. But I hadn’t. I had no idea. I was clueless. I’ve said that having kids is the most amazing and most horrible experience of my life. There’s no middle ground. No grey. It’s life at the extremes. Before kids our roles were fairly fluid except for the things I’ve mentioned before. Everyone knows that Tere would rather I drive, open doors, and order wine. Other than those three, everything else was pretty much fair game. After kids though, everything adjusts. With one kid, it’s relatively easy for two parents to sort of switch off and on, with one taking care of the baby/kid and the other doing other things. With twins, you’re both sort of required to pitch in at all times. Before I knew it, our roles and responsibilities were quickly divided up. We each had our chores, things we did best and situations where we excelled. Well I use “excelled” loosely because I fear we didn’t do much well. It was more like a well-you’re-not-as-bad-at-that-as-I-am-so-you-should-do-it sort of deal. Read More