For many years while living in Japan, our TV was usually tuned to CNN during the daytime. One of the reporters who most impressed me was Rebecca MacKinnon. She is a graduate of Harvard University and speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently despite not being of Chinese heritage. I happened to come across her blog, RConversation, when pieman of noodlepie mentioned that he was supposed to have met up with her in Ho Chi Minh City today.

Interested in what MacKinnon has been up to since she quit CNN last year because they asked her to change her reporting style, I looked through her archives (as much as I could anyway before my Internet connection crapped out). In February, she wrote this after reading Judith Warner’s Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety,

I wonder even more than usual why so many financially independent American women are in such a hurry to do the marriage-and-children thing.

Why? First of all, societal pressures and evolutionary drive are hard to overcome. While I don’t doubt that it’s possible to be happy as a single, childless woman, in my experience, a good marriage or lifelong partnership offers some things that no other relationships can adequately live up to.

In marriage, I have experienced a level of intimacy and love rivaled by nothing else except motherhood. I have found acceptance, support, and unconditional friendship. Marv is available to me 24/7 whenever I need another viewpoint, an honest opinion, or someone with whom to share the responsibilities of the world. (Sometimes I do have to poke his sleeping butt a few times but he usually acknowledges me.) Unlike the workplace or The Apprentice, I have never been set-up for failure nor am I expected to succeed at my task every time.

In motherhood, I have been loved and needed beyond my expectations. I am at the center of someone’s universe and it makes my life feel worthwhile. The joys of motherhood are too many to count. Being with Stephen reminds me of the many things I used to take pleasure in, i.e., learning trivia about our everyday world and playing pretend. By carrying memories of me, he helps me make an imprint that will last longer than my physical life. Without Stephen, I would be more self-centered. He is the best motivation possible for me to make the world a better place. And at the most basic, babies are a blessing, toddlers are a delight, big kids are a mirror of ourselves, teenagers teach us what unconditional love really means, and adult children are our offer to the future of humanity.

Rebecca says that she makes no apologies for liking her freedom. And I make no apologies for needing someone by my side.

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