No Time Like the Present

If I had to pick the single, most commonly-given piece of advice I got when PJO and I were trying to decide whether to start a family this year, it would have to be "there is no perfect time to have kids." This made sense to me and (obviously) we decided to to go for it. After finding out I was pregnant, the things that would have made us decide our timing was off happened...
In June, PJO decided to switch jobs. He left a very stable, but equally unsatisfying, job with amazing benefits where he worked from home. His new job at an investment firm was going to pay him more money, was walking distance from our apartment, and offered him opportunity to try new things and work with real, live people.
Of course, that didn't end well. The firm was hit really hard with the bad market and they laid him off two months later along with a bunch of other people. After only 5 days of unemployment, he found another job. The only problem was that it was a contract position. While it paid really well, we never knew how long he would be employed for and there were no benefits included.
Today, that contract job turned into a permanent position! I never doubted that he would find a permanent job, and suprisingly, I wasn't worried or stressed out by all of this, but I know it was a huge burden on him.

What I learned from this experience is that what they say is true: there really is no perfect time to start a family. Obviously we would have preferred to have complete job security before we add a baby to the mix. We would like to not have to worry about money, or how we were going to pay for childcare and health insurance. But all of these things can still creep into your life even when you think that you have it all set-up perfectly. Tragedy and hardship can strike indiscriminately and at the most inopportune moments, but you can't live your life walking on eggshells, taking no chances because of a possibility things won't be perfect. Things don't need to be perfect. We make choices hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, and dealing with what we have been dealt the best way we can.