A friend of mine joked, “You guys really don’t sell it,” when a couple other moms and I talked about parenthood. It got me thinking. We do (especially us mom bloggers) talk about the crap part a lot. I took this as a challenge. I’m going to sell it. At least I’m going to give it shot.

Here it goes…

Take off the dirt.
Take out boogers.
The tantrums.
The fight for independence.
The door slams.
The nagging.
The neediness.
The hair pulls.
The constant worry.
The scrapes.
The puke.
The poop.
The pee.
The spit.
The eye boogers and neck crust.
The sleeplessness.
The crumb covered floors.
The ruined upholstery. The nicked furniture.
The marked walls.
The amazing ability to impersonate a drunk, homeless person.

And you are left with pure light.
Love.
Genius.
Curiosity, strength.
They are the heart outside your body. Raw and vulnerable. Scary and beautiful.
It is your do-over.
They are perfect.
They are you.

That time they wouldn’t eat their pizza because it wasn’t completely covered in pepperoni and they cried all through dinner balling up the pizza into an unrecognizable ball of mush?

They just want to be seen.

They are all that is good. All that is possible.

Another human being to learn the reason for our lives—to connect, to love and be loved, to learn that our differences are what makes this world perfect, to find they are amazing individually, but we only work together.

“They will fit you better than your favorite sweater,” to quote Lana Del Rey.

And the love and joy is better than a first kiss or peanut butter and chocolate.

This culmination of cells and blood is yours. And you know they are yours because they are your reflection. Even the parts you don’t want to see. They teach you everyday if you listen and watch. They challenge you. They push every button you have. Do not struggle. Surrender and they will be your life preserver. They will make you better than you ever could be without them.

Yes, it’s your job to raise them to be exceptional human beings, but they teach you the meaning of life. And also how to burp and fart at the same time. And how to draw a unicorn and how to dress however you damn well please.

Here’s the kicker.

You can’t have the:

Middle of the night snuggles.
The messy kisses.
The moment they read a book by themselves for the first time.
The heart stopping beautiful way they sleep.
The odd breakfasts in bed.
The belly busting laughs.
The dance parties.
The homemade cards.
The times they look at you with eyes from the future that say 'you are doing a good job with me', please don’t cry.
The absolute unconditional love.
And more.
And more.
And on.
And on.

You can't have any of that without the stuff we bloggers blog about.