Babies, babies, babies, and more babies

Two friends have just had babies, someone at work probably just had hers, my sister-in-law is due any minute now, my nearly-sister-in-law is due in a bit, and another set of friends is expecting.

If I ever have children, they won't have any friends to play with among my friends, and their cousins will all be much older. Sorry, unborn hypothetical future child(ren).

Me, I'm over here, still trying to have science babies (aka publications). And riding bicycles all over the place. And trying to pay off student loans on a somewhat paltry postdoc salary (still way better than grad school "income"!). Looking at photos from Mt. Rainier in 2006, where my family hiked out to a clear alpine lake with my grandfather, while he could still walk on trails. We found an ephemeral pond full of pollywogs trying to become salamanders, and ate mountain huckleberries straight off the bush. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, even in the deepest parts, but fog periodically obscured the trees.

I have no idea where I'll be a year from now.