parenthood.

"Parenthood."

It's what I'm watching right now. 

I've been REALLY intrigued by this series ever since it started premiering during the Olympics. 

So far, it's pretty good.  Wish they wouldn't have included ALL the previews in this first episode...

kind of like I watched it already.  

However, it's pretty good even with the almost-spoilers.  The previews make sense now, and there were definitely some unexpected twists that will clearly shape the rest of the season.  

Boy, a big ol' epiphany just hit me (and it's happening in real time; this wasn't written yesterday!): 

Getting a bunch of previews of parenthood your entire life and still needing to brace yourself for unexpected twists...

Isn't that how parenthood starts? 

Most of us don't really understand it this way when we are young, but we were raised for 18+ years by some sort of parent/s

(as literal or figurative as that may be), 

and we've seen what it's like. 

Yet we have no idea what those unexpected twists will be until we experience it first-hand. 

I mean, I'm certain my future children will be quite tall, yet there's definitely a sneaky average-height trait in both John's and my family that could strike at any time. That's minor, I know, but it would be quite unexpected. 

And there's been plenty of unexpected twists in my own parents' experience, both with each other and with me and my sister.  Who would have thought she and I would have had such different teenage-lives.  Who would have thought I would have joined a sorority, that she would have bought her own pet dog, that my mom would have finished her BA in between Ash and I, or that my dad would have gotten us to eat something often that many people hate (fish).  And certainly no one would have guessed that the day after my sister's first Christmas on earth would our lives have been altered forever by cancer striking our dad. 

I've been watching this show for an hour. 

I've been watching...no, witnessing parenthood my entire life.  

I'm a product of it.  

We all are.

So, I hoping to soon be doing some of the parenting myself in the future.  

I hope I can conjure up all the lessons I learned back in the day - and now - and be a good parent with my husband, 

when that time comes.  

And being that I stayed at my client's place tonight five or ten minutes longer than usual just because her seven-or-so month old niece was there being cuter than anything I've seen in a good long time, 

I'd come to think that being a mom would be something that I'm inclined to do pretty soon...

God willing.