Grandchildren

Sparky was asked recently--by someone else, not me--about growing up, getting married, and having kids of his own. With each subject, his enthusiasm waned. Noticeably. The "kids" question barely raised a response at all. I haven't been spending hours dwelling on this, believe me. He's fourteen and seemingly terrified at the thought of dating at this point.

This morning, however, in the midst of a long IM session with someone--on topics that ranged nowhere near this particular one--it suddenly dawned on me what part of the problem might be with him and having his own kids.

Beast and I need to talk to him about Nathanael. It would also be really helpful if someone else close to us (i.e., him) were to become pregnant and deliver a healthy child in a relatively normal fashion. Someone we could visit in the hospital so he could see mom and baby (and dad) doing fine and looking sweet and adorable. The hospital part is key.

The follow-up to that idea is that I can literally think of NO ONE of childbearing age that he knows who a) should be getting pregnant (please, no one in his class at school!), or b) wants to have kids in- or outside of marriage.

Bummer. Just really: bum-mer