In the Beginning... There Ought to be a Law

I've often thought there should be a license to have children. Anyone can have or help create a child - but do they qualify to be parents? Back when I was born, I think it was automatic that you get married and then raise a family. Back then, people who had no children were thought of as unfortunate (there must be something wrong and how sad...). My parents didn't have me (their first), until they were married five years. That was long for then. The next in line was my brother and he was born four years after me - long too. I think my sister and youngest brother were unplanned. I know my youngest brother was because my father used to refer to my little sister as the "caboose" (she had red hair). When my youngest brother was born, my father handed him to me at the door when they came home from the hospital and proclaimed him to be mine. I was thirteen then. It wasn't something new though. I had already taken care of my siblings from the time I can remember. I was six when my sister was born. I recall standing over her bassinet at the foot of my parents bed in the middle of the night trying to quiet her cry. I knew where the bottles were kept and remember trying to get one in her mouth so she would stop crying. I'd hold it for her until she fell back to sleep, nearly falling asleep myself. I don't ever recall one of my parents even waking up through any of that. By the time I had my own family, I felt as though I had already raised one.

I know that things are different today and people do decide not to have children or to have them later, etc., and I think that is a good thing. However, there are still too many people out there having children who should not. And sometimes, the greatest little blessings of all come to those who don't plan on it.