Lately I've been thinking a lot about when the right time will be for my husband and I to start trying to conceive. We've talked it out and have decided that it will be soon, but still not as soon as our loved ones are hoping for. We have decided that we don't have to be in that perfectly ideal place financially and otherwise to have kids because, let's be honest, I don't know when or if we'll get there. I don't know if we'll ever feel completely ready for such a gigantic shift in our lives and our priorities.

Thus far, life hasn't gone for us how we'd expected, so I think letting go of some of the control of "when" feels freeing. Still, though: when it's time, it has to feel right for us.

Right for us. Us, just the two. Spouse + Spouse. Potential parent + other potential parent. My friends do not get to decide when. My family does not get to decide when. ESPECIALLY those that are distant except when prying into our lives about such a personal thing.

It doesn't feel right yet.



I'm not even going to get into the million reasons why it's incredibly rude and insensitive to bother someone about when they'll "finally" have kids. That's not what this is about — that's a rant for another time.

What I've been considering a lot lately, and what has been upsetting me, is that marriage seems to = babies according to common logic. I find myself not just frustrated as a woman that is simply not damn ready to have a baby yet, but also insulted for pretty much any family that has done things differently.

Why is it that as soon as my husband slipped that wedding band on my finger I suddenly became a baby making machine? Why is it that baby making is associated with marriage at all?

Sure, I'll cut my own friends and family some slack because it's known that I do want children someday. But what's with all my Child-Free friends constantly having to deal with pressure to procreate even after they've made it clear that kids aren't in the picture — ever? They should be able to enjoy their sparkly rings and champagne toasts without, "Okay, you're married, NOW you'll have kids, RIGHT?!"

Even more than my Child-free friends I think of my friends that have kids and aren't married. Some of them will get married when they're ready, some may never get married, some are single, some hadn't even had the option of marriage until recently (in Washington) or still don't — the point is THAT marriage had nothing to do with their beautiful children. I believe that each of those children were a result of sex — not marriage. Certainly a child conceived by other means was the result of a desire for that child. Surely love plays a part, but love exists without marriage.