My life hasn't exactly gone the way I imagined it as a child. Growing up in an urban community in a Latino family, my goal was always to overcome and to me, that meant graduating college, getting a high-paying job, and buying a big, fancy house in a quiet neighborhood.
But by my junior year of high school, that plan started to change. Over the past 10 years, I've become the girl who married her high school sweetheart at 21 and now, the woman who had her first baby at 26, and is already thinking about the next. I did graduate college and landed a pretty cool job (though not a high-paying one) and I have yet to purchase a house. But priorties have a way of changing as you get older–mine have evolved to include a family of four. Here's why I'm surprised:
Read more ¿Qué más? New mom rap tells it like it is when it comes to motherhood! (VIDEO)
Marriage. I never really imagined myself married. I've never had anything against marriage, I was just determined not to let a man stand in the way of my success, and being a single mother was definitely not an option. Of course, I was young and had not yet met my husband when I thought this. Now I know that the right man doesn't stand in your way, he helps you pave the way.
Only child. Once marriage became a possibility, I swore I'd only have one child and my future husband agreed. We both come from big families and we knew the struggles associated with it. We had no desire to spread ourselves thin trying to provide for a brood. One would suffice.
Money. After being married for five years, and deciding to have a baby, we were still fairly sure we only wanted one child. The main reason was financial. As a young couple that has been out on our own since we were 18 and 20, we've spent a lot of time trying to achieve financial stability, not even security, just stability. And of course, we've always heard about how expensive babies are–we figured we just couldn't afford more than one.
So what's changed? Pretty much everything. Our little boy has turned our lives upside down in such a completely joyful way. The past six months haven't been easy. In fact, they've been quite challenging, but I can't imagine never doing it again. I can't imagine not ever being pregnant again, I can't imagine never holding my own tiny newborn again, I can't imagine never again creating life with the man I love more than anyone else in the world. So in a couple of years, you might just see me writing about what it's like to be a mom of two.
Image via cjc4454/Flickr
