Monday Miscellany: No Kidding version

I have little to say today. The Husband and I celebrated a wedding anniversary a week or so ago. I mentioned it on A Separate Life in Another Year. As we hear of relationship or health issues that friends or family are going through, we appreciate each year we are lucky enough to have. Even when we drive each other crazy! It's odd - when I think of the decades we've been together (we met at university), I don't think about being childless. I think of all we've been through, and all we enjoy now. Because focusing on now, on what we have now, is so much more important than thinking about what we do not have.

Looking at the world right now, it would be easy to say that I'm glad I don't have children. There's so much horror, and insanity. It's going to come to our shores. It's scary. It would be tempting to wash my hands of it all, because I don't have descendants. But I can't do that. I care about all children, not just my own. I care about the world they're going to inherit, about the attitudes that they might be subject to, about the discrimination against girls and women that seems set to continue and even grow, thanks to social media. I may not have children, and I may feel isolated at time, but I have not dissociated from our communities, country, or world. 

And a couple of happy notes. I'm editing my trip photos at the moment. I like to take simple scenes, or close ups of flowers, and compose them specifically to be used here on this blog. You see, you're with me whether I'm sitting at my desk and laptop (as I am today), or standing on the southern coast of Ireland snapping a beach with sparkling water that will be perfect for a future No Kidding post.

And finally, No Kidding freedom is always good! We spent New Zealand's national day (Waitangi Day) in a beautiful olive grove on a warm, sunny day having lunch and catching up with friends. Their kids are grown and have children themselves. They are a loving family, but children are no longer part of their daily lives. Which means they have time for us. And of course, we have time for them. It was lovely.