I'd like to share a couple quotes from the book 365 Reflections on Marriage, edited by Eva Shaw (1999, Adams Media Corp.).
"Making the decision to have a child—it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Elizabeth Stone.
"Romance fails us and so do friendships, but the relationship of parent and child, less noisy than all others, remains indelible and indestructible, the strongest relationship on earth." Theodore Reik.
I find these very powerful statements. How do they make you feel when you read them?
2 comments:
First I want to thank you for your blog - I have spent all day reading it and find it phenomenal.
Second - in response to the quotes, I don't quite know what to think. Parents always remind me that I don't know what it's like to have a child, so perhaps I can't react to the quotes because I can't possibly imagine. Sigh.
I'd say reading those thoughts makes me feel rather crap about myself, being childfree (or childless) and all. Blood is thicker than water they say don't they. The bond between a parent and a child is there regardless of whether the parties actually want anything to do with each other. I'm fortunate to love my parents and my siblings and quite like them as people, although I never had the option of choosing my family. I have however chosen my partner in life and it's awkward for me to think that there could be a bond stronger than the one I have with my chosen life partner. I guess I'm feeling defensive due to the fact I don't have a child and hence will never be able to experience the kind of bond quoted in those phrases, or even to experiment with it and to perhaps come to the conclusion that it was not the case for me anyway.
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