Thirty

Well, she's done it. Julie has managed to avoid motherhood in her 20s. Whereas I have fathered children with various women all over the world, okay I'm kidding.

I think Julie harbored certain fantasies of being a mother before her 30th birthday. For one, she wouldn't have the same birthday as her child, which is still yet to be seen today. Still yet to be seen.

For another, when answering the question of when she had her first child, she could say "In my late 20s" or "29" and no one would know the real answer was "29 years and 364 days."

But the real reason, I suspect, is that I don't turn 30 until the end of May. Now when the little one stalls her bedtime by asking us question after question, the answer to one of them will be, "Daddy was 29 and Mommy was 30." The imp will inevitably reply, "Mommy, you're older than Daddy?!" and question time will promptly end.

It doesn't matter. Julie represents the ideal situation, if you ask me. She has a career, she has traveled, she has (if I do say so myself) a rare husband, and now she's waiting on a child. She's the handbook on good living.

Mother at 30. That has a nice ring to it.