Cheryl Strayed never saw herself as a "baby person." She was happy enough creating fiction.
Surprise!
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10 comments:
Wow! Cheryl Strayed has told an incredible story here, and it brought me to tears thinking of the day her son will read the article himself.
Even though I'm a man/father, I can relate to much of what Cheryl was communicating with her words. I too was not a "baby person," and never thought I would find myself orbiting around my two little boys like the "sun." However, it happened, and I too feel all the amazing emotions day in and day out described by Cheryl.
Absolutely beautiful! The woman *is* a writer, and sounds to be a wonderful mother, too. Somehow I was unable to combine those two loves as I wanted to. Now that my fledglings have flown the coop, and then some, maybe baby...
I really loved this essay. Cheryl Strayed's writing just pulled me right in and I related to the story even though I am not a writer myself. I cried at the end! What a beautiful story and so true and right on about what it's like to become a mother and try to "do it all." Jessica P.
Beautiful, beautiful story.. What an absolute joy to read. I am going to order her novel today.
I have both the privilege and joy of being Cheryl's friend; I get to watch her raise those two delectable children to be gracious, gentle, good-for-the-world little people. Moreover, they are among the rare few who know what it is to be loved fiercely by a woman who has not lost herself in the process, whose independence is in perfect balance with her ability to nurture. What a gift it is, to both mother and child, to be able to roll away, to roll back, to roll away again, secure in the knowledge that one is never entirely alone out there.
My daughter is nine, now...but this story took me back to age 35: pregnant, responsible job, confident and certain to do it all with grace. My husband and I had much the same thought process, and I had thought myself the same type of non-baby-person. Wow...how real this story is, was for me, and as that mother now who is in the 4th year of homeschooling above-mentioned daughter, the love affair continues. I cried reading this story...what a wonderfully touching piece. Reminded me of then, and now; reminds me to hold that (nine year old) baby today!
Exactly. Thanks for being so honest!
So true- how all-consuming having the new one is. My boy is my "sun" like Cheryl describes. I love my work as a teacher all day, but having the precious gift of my now six-year-old son means saving at least half my energy and joy for life to share it with him. He has made me become more in tune with my own needs because being a mother is so demanding. At the same time, motherhood is energizing and positively transformational. There are so many spontaneous joyful pleasures and so many experiences to have together!
Spot on! Having given in to the raging (irrational and never before felt) hormones that kicked in in my mid-30's, the ones that scream "I must have a baby", we rationally planned how ours lives would be after our daughter was born (me age 36, husband age 46). As the saying goes: "You plan, God laughs." Now with 3 under age 5, (#3 was husband's surprise 50th birthday present), I feel I've finally given up that "why didn't they tell me this was going to happen" dismay that I CAN"T have it all at least not all the time, as I thought I could before kids. Nice to hear others have fought that same internal battle. Sweet, sweet babes, the time goes sooooo fast...thanks for a great read!
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