by Tara Shafer posted in Parenting

When my children were much smaller than they are now, they made it a practice to wake up horribly early. This meant I sometimes had to invent things to do even before it was legitimately light outside.
This often made me cranky.  As I piled them into carriers, strollers, car seats, and all the rest I kind of complained under my breath. (Okay, maybe not under my breath). The buckles, the straps -- the things I vowed I would not miss. One baby carrier lay in a heap in my coat closet. I had abandoned it almost out of the gate when it arrived with an insanely complicated instructional DVD.
This was how I came to find myself in a diner early one winter morning. Across the aisle was an elderly woman who watched me as I drank coffee. My youngest had fallen asleep in her car seat and the two older boys were enjoying some French toast. It was now light outside. I was less cranky now, because, coffee.
As I got up to leave I tried to move my now stirring daughter from the car seat to a baby carrier. I carefully planned how I could strap the boys into their car seats without waking the baby. There was the stroller to contend with, too.
The elderly woman sensed my impatience. As we walked (or, really, paraded by) she reached out and touched my arm. Then she said something I needed to hear.
?You?re lucky ... When my children were little we didn?t have all those things. When you had a baby, you just stayed home.?
This gave me pause. I had escaped my...