The Pains of Being a Parent

I am a parent in a minivan driving to pick up the kids—no, that isn’t true. I am the parent in the passenger seat telling my significant other where to go. He likes to make jokes as we drive, but I don’t have the heart to tell him he really isn’t very funny. He tries too hard to keep up with his nickname, but he cares for the kids in his own way, even if I do all the heavy lifting. Nevertheless, we have a plan, a task, a set course: we must pick up our kids.

But we have many, eleven to be exact, with another due in early April. We have some names floating around but I won’t say just yet; that is just a digression anyway. As if just having eleven kids wasn’t enough work, they have to do their own activities on what seems like opposite ends of the galaxy. Driving to pick them up is becoming increasingly fatiguing. If I have to do this why can’t I have a large, open field to go through? Why must I stick to this narrow, enclosed road? I suppose no one can have everything.

I can’t even have my old passions anymore. I’ve almost done away with them entirely. Who could possibly enjoy collecting things when you have to keep track of it all and your kids, right? Well, maybe I could. There was something pleasant about having so many possessions, even if I had to figure out what to keep and sell the rest to get by. It sure as hell beats having to do arduous work in a mine.

Although, with these kids telling me to pull over so often, maybe I couldn’t deal with it. I have yet to pick everyone up but already they are wanting me to go off on these tangential stops with them. It is like they don’t want me to get all the way home; they want to just distract me from moving forward. I can understand when one of them wants me to do something but when they all do? You would think the older kids would be understanding but they are the same way.

Anyway, I really should get back to directing him where to go. I still have two kids to pick up and I know all the others will want to make their own stops too. I may make this trip out to be a narrow drag but I guess it isn’t that all bad. I have some beautiful scenery to look at and great music to listen to. Even if the kids make my life more restrictive and they act a little annoying, sometimes they say or do things that really make me think. I like that. I will save my final thoughts until I get all the way home.


-Shepard