Maybe Baby? In Response to That Ticking Clock

I should have known when I hit 30 that it would start. In fact, given that my own mother handed me that scary New York magazine cover story about freezing your eggs—you know, just in case—I should have expected it a lot sooner. All of which has me thinking: Maybe baby?

Still, considering the place that Navdeep and I are in at this moment in time, the floaty, fleeting nature of both our careers, trying to establish ourselves as writers, and even just trying to figure out which coast to live on, I was hardly ready for it.

No, I’m not pregnant. But it seems like everyone around me has babies on the brain. Navdeep may not have noticed it, but while we were traveling in India, meeting new relatives, the question came up a lot. We’ve been married for about a year-and-a-half now, and by Indian standards, that’s plenty of alone time. People just didn’t seem to grasp what we’re waiting for.

Sometimes I wonder, too. After all, the proverbial clock is ticking away. And you always hear people say that there will never be a right time. But there is such a thing as a very wrong time, isn’t there? We had the adventure of a lifetime with our honeymoon trip to India, and to be perfectly honest we’re not ready for that adventure to be over. It’s been a shock to the system being back, as nice as it is to see everyone. Now that we’re back in the United States, it’s time to sort ourselves out. We’ve got big plans to get moving with our writing, but we’ve also got to figure out basics, like where to live and how to pay the rent. Perhaps figuring out which coast we’ll be on is a good first step! I’ve already got a short-term gig at People, and by September, Navdeep will don his Professor Dhillon persona once again.

But yesterday another pal-o-mine announced that she was pregnant, bringing the count up to four friends at once. And it makes me feel a bit wistful, pause and think ‘Maybe…” But I know that, for us, now is not the time. Not only are we not settled—as much as Navdeep and I hate the word—we still haven’t had enough couple time. Our India adventure was super fun, but we have a lot more adventures to go on still! We’ve got big dreams, and we’ve got the ambition, intelligence and drive to achieve them. One day, soon enough, we’ll have our own big, happy family to share our successes with.

Sona Charaipotra

Sona Charaipotra is a New York City-based journalist, who works from home and on the road, while wearing her pajamas. She has written for Cosmopolitan, the New York Times, People, TeenPeople, American Way, Modern Bride, and loads of other print publications. She has blogged for CafeMom, Mom.me, MSN, and TheBump. She graduated with a Masters degree in screenwriting from N.Y.U., went on to earn an MFA in Writing for Children from the New School and is currently completing a novel. Find her @sona_c and www.SonaCharaipotra.com

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