There is something that comes out during the holidays, both good and bad. I see the best side of people. But, there is also a dark side, a side of the holidays in which depression takes it hold over people. It must be the expectations people have during the holidays. And having to deal with family.
Family is difficult because with family it is all about expectations. And dynamics. A teacher once told me about a study that showed that if you are in a group of people the same size as your immediate family, you take on the same role in that group that you take on in your family. I always found that so interesting. Are we hard wired to be who we once were as children and young adults? Am I doomed to always be the oldest child bossing everyone around? Or only in groups of five?
Lately, the holidays have brought out my introspective side. It has made me ask, what do I want out of life? What's important? Is being a public defender (i.e. social justice) really my calling or is teaching my destiny? Or writing? I have so many interests that sometimes I can get sidetracked, but there are some things I just know are true. I know that my mom and I have better relationship than ever. She makes me smile with her independence and her grit. And I am blessed to have my sisters Roberta, Jackie and Annie. They never let me forget where I came from and who I am.
What I also know is true is that I have the inability to say no sometimes. It is both a blessing and a curse, but last night at my mock trial team's holiday banquet, it was a blessing. I was so glad I had said yes. The kids make me happy. Their enthusiasm for life is infectious and it reminds me of what is important.
What I am getting at (in a very roundabout way) is that kids are the whole point of it all. As a morose punk rock girl in my teens and a non-believer in my twenties, I thought procreation was for the self absorbed egoists who needed to see themselves in another. But as a forty-something true believer in both God and people, I see that it is not procreation that is key, it is creation.
We meant to create and a creation can take the form of a book, a painting and of course, it can take the form of a child, the ultimate act of creation. And, how you create is irrelevant. If a child was created the natural way, or through IVF or adoption, it doesn't matter. In the end, what is meant to be is meant to be and it was meant to be that way all along.
I guess I am here to say I still believe. Despite all my heartache and tears over my infertility, I know there is meaning to all of this. I was meant to go through everything I have for a reason and will appreciate every moment all the more as a result.
What I know is true today as I sit here watching my holiday Hallmark movie is that something is in the air. And it feels like Christmas and I am hopeful for what is to come.
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