Where it all began

Orignally written in January 2023

Today I started a new… project? Journey? Put some dreams into motion? Something like that!

Since I can remember I have wanted to be a mom. The picture in my head was always something along the lines of the romantic fairy tale of meeting someone and falling in love. In my mind, by the time I was 25 I’d be well on my way to marriage and babies. Fast forward many years and I am 35 and single. I have been through a few relationships in my 20s and spent WAY too many years on dating apps. After a lot of thought, pros, cons and so much more thinking than I have ever done on the topic, I’ve decided, I’m having a baby my own way.

As much as that cookie cutter family would be ideal, that’s not everyone’s reality. The thought of rushing through dates and attempting to get to know someone at a fast enough pace that would still allow us to have children without too many complications seems irresponsible. How long does it really take to get to know someone to the point where you are comfortable raising a child with them? What if we rush into things and then find we really don’t have what it takes to make a life long relationship work? Well at that point it would be too late because I would now have a baby with this person. They are in my life whether I like it or not.

Something else that is very true for me is that I don’t really see this a “doing it alone”. I have the best family in my mom, dad, brother, sister and cousins that feel like siblings that I know I will have all the support I could ever want.  Not to mention friends near and far that would provide their unending support and love. So as much as it sounds like I’m doing this alone, it’s actually the exact opposite and I am so grateful for them.

A little about me. My name is Elizabeth, or Lizzie or Liz. I’ll answer to any of those. I have a 7 year old Black Lab named Rebel. He lives up to the name and you would not think he was more that 2 or 3 if it weren’t for the white he’s got on his muzzle. He is my only child at the moment. Judging by the way he loves my cousin’s children, I know he’ll be a great big brother!

I currently live in a one bedroom apartment in Smiths Falls, Ontario but I lived most of my life on the North Shore of Massachusetts in the city of Beverly. I have the best memories of growing up there and a little piece of my heart will always be by the ocean, but a bigger piece of my heart is up here in Ontario about an hour away from where I live. That place is a family cottage on Bobs Lake. My grandparents built it in the early 1970s and the memories I have of growing up there with my cousins and other extended family are the best. I moved back up here to be closer to that cottage and to have more of those moments with my family as it continues to grow!

I’m the middle child of three. My older brother is 4 years older than me. He has a lovely girlfriend that I see being in his life for years to come. My younger sister is a year and a half younger than me and living her single, adventurous life. I love how she lives her life in the ways that makes her happy and I hope in this next year she really gets to live and travel the way she wants to.

(*updated note to now in August 2024. My brother's girlfriend is now his fiance and we are thrilled! Also my sister has been dating a great guy for about a year now.)

Along with my siblings there is also my mom and dad. Two people that even though they are desperate to be grandparents, they don’t shove it in your face. Never have they pressured us about when my siblings and I might have children. Sure there has been the odd joke but the real give away is my mom constantly knitting baby blankets and sweaters for anyone she knows, or barely knows, that is having a baby. With my dad it is more subtle but it really became obvious when my cousin and his wife had their first baby. The first time he held her his eyes lit up.

That’s just my immediate family! Come back to read more about the whole process of making a baby the unconventional way!