(175) Number of children

I have always thought that the number of children we have denotes something about our choice. Since traditionally Chinese treasures sons, once a modern Chinese woman presents her husband with an male heir, no one could force her to beget another unless she agrees.

We start with my friend Amber. Amber has one son. Her mother kept advising her to have another, but in her youth she valued personal freedom and chose not to go through the business of pregnancy and years of inconvenience. Her son is grown now. She suffered through the fear of teenage suicide, son thinking of relocating with college girl friend to a state 2,000 miles away, fear of fast cars, drunken driving ... At long last she admitted that she was not wise in ignoring an old woman's wisdom.

Next we have Barbara, she has two sons. Both sons are gainfully employed and are of marriageable age. Despite the fact that both sons are sociable, there is no sign of any steady girl friends. Barbara of course is very envious of others' sons getting married. But nothing can be done since both guys are happy with their single state. Barbara could not even dream of begetting any grand babies.

Then we have Claire, who has three sons. Of all my friends, she came out with a really ingenious excuse for not having more children. She claimed that all her boys have expensive tastes. They only eat exorbitantly price fish fillets. Since each of them grew up with fish porridge every main meal, she said she could not afford any more.

Daisy is the next one with four sons and a daughter. She placed tremendous importance on the bottom figure in the bank account. Although she is rich, she claimed she could not afford foreign college education for a sixth child. In her old age, she ended with four of her five off springs in foreign countries.

Emily has five sons and one daughter. As soon as the youngest daughter was born, both Emily and her husband decided that their family is complete. Emily's husband passed on recently, her children rallied around her. Three of her children are abroad.

Of course no matter how many children we have, it does not guarantee that we would not age alone in an old folk's home.