Ten Years Later…
Ten years ago today, I ended the longest day of my life — 23 grueling hours of unmedicated back labor — with a plea for an epidural (which made both my mother and husband burst into tears of gratitude for ending my own suffering and theirs) and a few hours later, the birth of my son, Cameron.
That was when my life as a mother began.. and my dreams of writing were in large part deferred. My kids were never the kind to sleep quietly while I wrote. They mostly screamed, and made enormous, staining messes, and when they got old enough fought with each other. I call this part of my life The Decade of Maternal Bitterness.
But this morning, as I shipped Son Number One and his little brother off on the bus to school (yes, he wanted to ride the bus on his birthday — he got a new DS -i he wants to show off) I realized I owed the entire past year of writing success to him. Not only have I written and published multiple essays about the “joys” of parenting, almost every character that pops into my head for my middle-grade books is based very closely on him. If you’ve read my work, you know this means I have a child similar to Raymond Mahaney running around loose in my house. Pity me.
My mom used to say, “Someday you’ll look back on this and laugh.” It’s true. Writing about Raymond/Cameron, I do laugh, a lot. Now.
But ten years ago, if you said that to me, I would have smacked you with a dirty diaper. Gotta love perspective.
Happy Birthday, Cameron! And thanks for giving me enough material to make a career.
09/30/2009 at 2:02 pm
Happy Birthday Cameron (not that you read your mom’s blog)!
In case anyone is interested in what “Raymond” looks like, you can find him here.
09/30/2009 at 7:36 pm
Okay, but Raymond doesn’t LOOK like Cameron in my mind. He just acts/thinks like him.
Day’s getting better — sold another puppet play!
10/28/2009 at 7:57 am
Hi Nikki (and Dave)!
I saw your name posted on a homeschool group I belong to (mentioning your Christmas talk – I know I am not properly naming it), and thought I’d check out your blog. Dave and I have run into each other a couple times at Scout events, as he may have told you. I will have to look for the Boy’s Life article!
Do you keep in touch with any others from our first childbirth class? I saw Heather once about 7 years ago maybe. Wouldn’t it be neat to see everyone 10 years later? We have three now. Two boys, one girl.
Well, just wanted to say hi. Apparently I need to start reading ParentWise again. Congrats on the success with your writing!
Diana
10/28/2009 at 2:15 pm
Diana! How fun. It’s good to hear from you. I haven’t seen anyone for years — Cameron went to school with Grayson (Was that his name?) for a while in Pre-K…
Congrats on your three. I have my 2 boys, and now I’m trying to be a Book Mama… we’ll see. Thanks for your note!