Before I had kids, I was sure I knew what having kids would look like. I pictured tucking them in at night, kissing them sweetly on their foreheads, snuggling over stories, tickling and laughing, enjoying family meal time, and taking walks hand in hand. Sure, they'd cry sometimes, but I would patiently soothe them like the wonderful mother I just knew I'd be.
Let's pause for a moment to get the laughter out of our systems, shall we? Because I'm pretty sure you know what happened to all of those maternal fantasies once I actually gave birth to offspring. When the reality of being responsible for another human being sets in, so does real-life parenting — which can differ wildly from your pre-kid illusions. You find yourself doing things that you never in a million years would have dreamed of doing before. Things you would have laughed at the mere thought of.
Things like:
Yes, there's nothing like parenthood to lead you into territory where you never thought you'd tread. But possibly the strangest "I-swore-I'd-never-do-that" thing? Doing every single one of those weird, disgusting, demeaning tasks . . . and not being able to imagine your life any other way. Because those labors of grossness are actually labors of love — and that might just be the most surprising thing of all.