*Being a mother*

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of 'starting a family.'
'We're taking a survey,' she says, half-joking. 'Do you think I should have a baby?'

'It will change your life,' I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.    'I know,' she says, 'no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations....'
But that is not what I meant at all. 
I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her.. I want her to know what
she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical
wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will
leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.  I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper
without asking 'What if that had been MY child?'
That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees
pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse
than watching your child die.............