By Way of Introduction

Call me a late bloomer. At the tender age of 37, I went back to school to get my teaching degree. Three days after I graduated, I made a visit to my OBGYN because my body had been doing strange things and my period had been abnormally light for a couple of months. I had just turned 42, and I was pretty sure I was going through peri-menopause.

My doctor laughed. “Quite the opposite,” he said. “I’d say you’re about three months pregnant.”

Preg-a-what? 

No, no, no. Babies were in no way a part of my life’s plan. If they had been, I sure as hell wouldn’t have waited until I was at an age where I could reasonably mistake pregnancy for menopause.

It was entirely too late to do anything about it, and one of the most terrifying moments of my life was having to tell my boyfriend of nine years that we were gonna have a baby. With three kids under his belt already, ranging from 11 to 21 years old, I knew he was going to go ballistic. 

“How’d it go?” he asked. I was smoking and shaking.

“Well, it’s not peri-menopause.”

“That’s good. So what is it?”

“A baby.”

There was a stunned silence. A very, very long silence.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Sorry for what? This could be great!”

He said some of the sweetest things he’s ever said, pointing out that this would bind us and our families together for life. He said it would keep us young and on top of pop culture, a good asset for a couple of teachers. He said that having kids was the best thing that ever happened to him, and that I should have that experience.

I put out my cigarette and gave him the rest of the pack. I made a million lists. I started taking better care of myself, hoping it wasn’t too late.

Ruby was born on Elvis’s birthday in 2010. She was perfect. Despite having severely abused my body in my 30s and during my early months of pregnancy, she scored a 10 on the Apgar scale.

Ruby is 3-1/2 now, and I’m a work-at-home mom. It’s not easy balancing house with work and child, but stuff mostly gets done. I like to keep busy, and I like to start projects that are way over my head, and that sometimes take a year to complete. I’ll show you some of them.

I hope you find my posts helpful in some ways, maybe inspiring in others. Most of all, I hope you will feel free to comment, email or otherwise communicate with me if you have any advice, experiences or anecdotes related to my posts. I love to hear from my readers. 

Happy reading!