Just a quick post to welcome into the world my beautiful new niece, Rachel.
And something for you to ponder: My mum was an only child, and grew up in a quiet home – each evening her father would go out and play dominoes and her mother would sit and read. It was a modest, peaceful upbringing.
My Mum tells me that as a young married woman she wasn’t too interested in having children, but my Dad managed to persuade her to have two. Our family home was lively, but fairly peaceful and civilised. Lots of music, lots of laughter, lots of cheering on the Boro (Middlesbrough FC). But it certainly wasn’t overcrowded and there wasn’t much hustle-bustle.
Today my lovely, peace-loving mother has six grandchildren under the age of 5. Just think about that for a moment. In December, I expect we’ll all be visiting her and my Dad in the home I grew up in, and there’ll be children aged 5, 4, 3, 2, 1yr and 4 months (and four of them are girls).
So when you look into your future and you see peace and quiet, look again friends. Your children may go on to have very large families. And what a chaotic blessing that will be! It’s just worth bearing in mind…
Mum in Zone One 