Am I Cut Out For This Job?

I'm not sure that I'm quite cut out to be a mother.

You see, I just got back from spending 2 weeks with my 3-year-old nephew and am still reeling from the experience.

I know everyone says this, but I know for a fact that I am not biased. I just have an exceptionally amazing nephew. Anyone who has ever met him will attest to this fact.

How could they not? I mean, from the very instant that they meet him they are generally amazed. Because meeting him means that he has approached you, said hello, introduced himself and also introduced whatever parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle or friend who happens to be with him at the time. It's quite remarkable.

The problem is that most other little kids don't quite have the social skills that my nephew Lucas is privy to. So, trips to the park or the pool can sometimes be rather heartbreaking. Not for Lucas. For me.

There was one day in particular that we went to the pool where the kids were especially UNsociable and UNfriendly. The parents smiled and laughed in awe when Lucas approached them with his introductions. Their children, on the other hand, looked at him as though he were an alien with 3 heads and went on with their lives. Without fail, Lucas approached each child at the pool, introduced himself, and asked said child if he or she would like to play with him.

Unfortunately for him, he had no luck, and was forced to play with his Grammy and Aunt Sarah instead. He had fun with us, but we were certainly not his first choice of playmates.

Now, I'm sure that the whole experience was something that wasn't so much as a blip on Lucas's radar. I'm sure that he will not grow up and find himself to be tortured by the rejection he experienced at the pool that day. I, on the other hand, am scarred.

And he's not even MY son! My heart developed a brand new crack with each rejection he received at the pool that day, and by the end of it, I found myself fast forwarding to a lifetime of rejections my future children are sure to receive and finding myself unable to cope with the tragedy of it all.

I just don't understand how anyone manages to get out of parenthood alive and with their hearts completely in tact. I'm not sure I can manage either of these feats, myself.