Vague Answers

My daughter turned 3 years old today.  I could comment on time - how the first year felt so long while we were wading through it, and then it seemed to zoom by after she turned 1.  I could comment on how far she's come this year in terms of speech, cognitive abilities, and her likes/dislikes.  I could comment on how much she has taught me, how much she has pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I could comment on how I wish I was the type to bemoan, "My baby's getting older! She's no longer a baby anymore." I don't want her to be back to the way she was 3 years ago because, frankly, I didn't care for the infant stage.

3 years ago

Probably one of my most unanswered questions of the world is why people have kids.  Here are the basic answers I have heard.

"I want a child."
"My family isn't complete yet."
"I want to help mold the next generation." 
"I want a little boy/girl." 
"It's what people do." 

They aren't the best answers in the world.  I mean, as logic goes, those answers suck.  We can debate those for hours, and I can supply vast amounts of logical evidence to counter any vague, idealistic statements you can bring up (how much it costs to raise each child, how the world is overpopulated already, how much time each child sucks up of your life, health care costs, environmental impact of one extra person on this earth, etc.).  But people still have children, and it all comes down to vague, idealistic answers that defy logic...or failed birth control.  And this is coming from someone who has a child.  Wooohooo, logic evader right here! 

My awfully vague answers for having a child were something like:

1 - My husband will make a great father. 
2 - I want a little girl (which makes no freaking sense because I never got along with girls and tend to have much better relations with boys, but oh well...I guess I thought I could have a little girl who would like to do the same things as me). 
3 - There's got to be more to life than going to work, coming home, and reading/watching TV. Right?
4 - It will be kind of cool to watch someone evolve from being completely helpless to a self-sustaining adult (or at least we hope!). 

My answers suck, and I acknowledge they suck.