I can think of a lot of reasons not to bring a child into this world. War. Global warming. The price of college. The cost of health care. The growing income disparity between wealthy and poor. The Real Housewives.
As a kid, I'd figured most of these problems would be solved by the time I had my own children.
But biological clocks tick faster than geopolitical transformation, so we're doing it anyway.
My belly has now expanded well past the point where strangers might wonder if I'm just a bit chubby. And it is the kindness of many of these strangers that reaffirms for me why it still makes sense to have a child.
The other day, while I was waiting in line at a public restroom, the woman in front of me insisted that I go ahead of her. So did every other woman in line. "I remember how it was," the first woman said.