Shannon’s Comments (group member since Jun 23, 2011)

Shannon’s comments from the Ask Ayelet Waldman group.

So great to see you on here! I love how honest you are about how tough motherhood is and yet the absolute joys that are associated with it. How do you think we can better support each other as mothers?

Here is one of my favorite lines of yours:

He burped in reply and snuggled up against my chest. He suddenly seemed to notice that he was in close proximity to his favorite things in the world and he began rooting around for a nipple. I stood there for a while under the warm water, holding Isaac while he nursed. As I held his silken soft body close to mine, I felt genuinely happy. Happy to be a mother. Happy to be standing in the shower with such a delightfully sweet baby. So much of being a parent is about managing, or disciplining, or getting from point A to point B. Sometimes I wonder what the point of having children is if one spends all one’s time as a parent trying to herd them in the direction you need them to go, or keep them quiet or, even better, asleep. It’s even occurred to me that I’d be better off with a battery-operated infant that I could play with for an hour or so each day and then toss into the closet when I got bored with its company. And then one of those sweet but rare moments happens, and I remember why I did this in the first place.
- Excerpt from The Big Nap by Ayelet Waldman