Theme Park: Parenthood

My mother tells a story of when I was three years old and had gotten mad at her for something. Obviously I didn't believe she was doing a good enough job at mommy-ing because, in my anger, I yelled "I'm going to be the best mommy ever." She asked, as grown-ups do, "How do you know you'll be the best mommy ever." She says I looked at her, solemn as a heart attack (how's that for a cliche!) and said "Because I was a mommy, before."

Cut to several decades later, and I didn't think I was going to be a mommy, ever. First it took me forever to find my husband (that's a story in and of itself), and then I didn't seem to be able to get

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pregnant. Maybe I've mentioned it before, but I don't wait well. It was less heart-breaking to give up on the idea of having kids, and we got ready to move on to a life of just the two of us.

To make a long story short(er): we went to Cusco, I touched the fertility waters and within the year I was pregnant. Weird, huh? I found out I was pregnant on Mothers Day. Then, after Boy 1 was born, we decided that we'd try to give him a sibling, but only for three months and then give up. By that time I was getting old enough that the risks for all kinds of defects were increasing. But, the fertility waters were still working because I got pregnant in the first month. Boy 2's due date was for Mother's Day that year.

I call Boy 2 my bonus baby because I honestly never thought I'd have two children. I felt so lucky to have had one. And that is what spills out into my stories. My absolute adoration of being a mother. And my absolute belief that children are the best thing that can happen to people and deserve to be treated like the gifts they are.

Also a pretty constant theme (at least in the last several stories) is how parenthood will change a person. One of the first stories I wrote about that change is Bear Hug (which you can read here on Wattpad.) I don't want to say much because I don't want to give any spoilers to any of the stories I've written, but because I am so awed by the magic children weave into the lives of adults, it can't help but show up in my writing.

Do you think fantasy stories have room for characters who have children?