Having children is one way of feeling a connection with the human race, and all the other inhabitants of this planet, who—however else their lives may differ from your own—are doing precisely the same thing you are. . . We are adventurers in the same mysterious territory of parenthood.
Joyce Maynard, Domestic Affairs
Yes, I know, more Maynard. They keep putting her books on Kindle Unlimited, and it’s like placing drugs in front of a junkie. I keep grabbing one after another, my eyes glazed and my hands shaking.
Domestic Affairs is a collection of articles from long before Maynard met the woke second husband. And you can see it from this quote where Maynard talks about the beauty and importance of being a parent:
Sometimes at night the thought will strike me: There are three small people here, breathing sweetly in their beds, whose lives are for the moment in our hands. I might as well be at the controls of a moon shot, the mission is so grave and vast.
OK, just one more because I really love it:
It wasn’t until I had children myself that I understood the power of inheritance and the meaning of heritage. Of course I’ve rejected, railed against, and even cursed parts of my heritage, as most daughters have. But in the end, I guess I never for a moment questioned the essential belief my mother possessed (and possesses still): that there could be nothing more worthwhile and challenging than having and raising children. Fashions in raising of children dictate, now, that women leave their little girls more free to choose or reject childbearing. But my mother raised me to be a mother, and (though I’m always quick to say not “when you have children,” but only “if”) the truth is I am probably passing on a good deal of the same pattern to my children too.
I say “when” to my daughter because a mother’s doubt in a girl’s capacity to reproduce is very undermining but these quotes are only from the first 3 pages of the book and already so great. These are the most important questions we can discuss, and they are all here in this book.
I just started reading Domestic Affairs. I will totally understand if people want to leave until I’m done quoting this book but don’t worry, I’m on an 9-hour flight, and I’m sure I’ll finish reading it today.
And by the way, Maynard’s daughter Audrey has four children, two girls and two boys. She heard her mother correctly.
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