The More the Merrier

Jessie and I have been discussing what it means to really have a family. She feels there needs to be at least two kids. In her eyes, having just one would feel like something is missing. I tried to play the devil’s advocate and say that with one kid, we could put all our focus into him and give him the best chances to succeed. With two or more kids, our time, money, and attention are spread out too thin. Someone is going to get cheated out in the process. Plus, if both kids turn out to be little hellions, I’d feel like double the failure that I already am.

But she does have a point about how one child doesn’t really feel like a family. Jessie has two older sisters and a younger brother. When everyone gets together, it’s a crowd. You have her oldest sister, husband and two kids, her second sister and her boyfriend, her younger brother and his girlfriend, and her mom and dad. You add us into the mix and that’s a grand total of 12 people!

Jessie’s family has a great practice of always trying to get together for dinner at their parent’s at least a couple times a week. That’s not very hard given the fact that her mom is a great cook. Who doesn’t like free, good tasting food? Besides, somebody’s got to be their dad’s designated drinking buddy. I unselfishly volunteer myself for this task. Think of it as taking one for the team. 

And it’s never dull either. People are always laughing, talking, or arguing. In my mind, this is what a family is supposed to be like. I can’t imagine this kind of scene with just my mom, dad, and me. As the saying goes, the more, the merrier.

Which brings me back to the beginning. I know I had said before that I wanted two kids, but now that I think about it, I’d ideally like three children. I say ideally, because in an ideal world, I would have enough money, a big enough house, and children that behaved like perfect little angels.  

But I might be jumping the gun a bit. Let’s see how we handle the first kid and take it from there. The world could possibly be better off with less Mini Me’s running around.