Simply having children
does not make mothers.
John A. Shedd
Would you believe this photo series is the celebration of a Goddess who turned 43? She wishes looking a decade younger could silence the deafening tick tock of her biological clock and the nosy nags at family gatherings. Elusive Mr. Right continues to hold hostage the children she may never have–despite the parade of Mr. Right Nows who volunteer to be sperm donors.
Friends, celebrities, and experts provide a mixed bag of social proof on the matter of her biological imperative. She’s heard the cynical declare “Having kids is overrated!” She has witnessed older friends regret not having kids, single mothers who juggle an act for two, women who snob adoption for the pain of freezing eggs (aka, hope) or fertility treatments at a king’s ransom. Some unwittingly bind themselves to a lifetime of indentured parenthood with offspring who are forever dependent whether by illness or lack of ambition. She’s seen women agonize over the destiny of their yet unfertilized eggs while others plop kids out without a thought. Some consider kids as social security in their old age. Others acquire them as the latest luxury “must have.” There are those who would fare better taking a parenting license exam not just driver’s ed. And how can she not admire women who truly enjoy the thankless role of mothering? — That mythical ideal both inspiration and curse to the many of us who can’t measure up.
Childless or not, what moves you to have children?
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
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