What the Mormons are getting right

Mom and Dad, if you're reading this, I am not converting. Mormons just have been on my mind a lot lately, particularly the way they do family.

I say "do" not to be trendy, but because it literally seems like being a part of a family is something active for them. Something you put a lot of effort into. Of course they aren't the only ones who value family, but when I look around at the way people are actually living,  the Mormons are putting the rest of the world to shame.

Even in the shadow of Baylor where the marriageable age is pretty low compared to the national average, family in the sense of having your own family still doesn't get a lot of air-time, Maybe it's because it seems like a lot of responsibility. Or financially impractical. Or (more likely) something reserved for older people.

I wish there was a cooler word for "parent." One that made it seem hip and exciting. To be honest, I don't identify with that word yet. It brings up images of bad magazines you'd only read in a doctor's office and petrified french fries under the seat of your minivan.

Even amongst friends, I feel sort of hesitant to admit that yes, we actually wanted to have a baby. On one income. While Logan is in law school. I'm afraid it makes us weird. I still get the impression that the day-care woman thinks I don't know what I'm doing, and the only friends I can turn to for baby advice are in their thirties. 

Logan looking like a highschooler with his backpack at the hospital. 

We're all on a different timeline, and I totally get that. I love my single friends and friends without kids. Ellis is getting quite good at napping through happy hour. Still, I'm sure that everyone can see straight through my innocent "You look great holding a baby!" - the classically shameless ploy that really means I feel kind of lonely in my motherhood. 

This isn't a soapbox; more like another subconscious effort to try and convince people my age that being a parent is fun. And a way of formulating the idea that I want to take being part of a family seriously, both my new one and my old one. 

So in conclusion, I'm not sure what my conclusion is. Other than that I appreicate the Mormons for unabashedly diving into these waters with me!