That old circle of life thing

It's been a rough year for mothers—though in another sense, it's been a very good year for mothers.

The mothers of two friends of mine, from my class at Swarthmore, died earlier this year, about two months apart. Also around the same time, the mother of another Swarthmore person whom I know less well. And another friend's mother has been very ill for a long time. And as I noted back in April, I keep running into stories and movies that feature dead mothers. And various friends of mine have had to deal with other people close to them dying and/or being terminally ill as well.

But then, at the other end of things: I mentioned that Nao & Stephen's son was born a few weeks ago; I just saw that Haddayr gave birth last week (congratulations!); and a couple of my co-workers also just had a baby two weeks ago. I think I know at least 15 women, mostly in their mid-30s, who are either pregnant now or have given birth this year.

It's not all births and deaths, of course. In the morning, I'm heading up to San Francisco for Kathleen & Terence's wedding. There's currently a relative lull in the weddings in my life; I think this'll be only the fourth wedding-related event I'll have attended this year (not counting the same-sex weddings in SF in February 'cause those were people I didn't know—though several people I did know got married there that weekend, just not while I was around).

I don't have anything profound to say about any of this; it just struck me that a lot of people I know are going through Big Life Changes of one kind or another this year. Happy stuff, sad stuff, all mixed together.

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