What would I do?

A friend and I were having a political discussion which quickly turned into a discussion about our kids (don't ask how that happened). He had made an observation about how people that are have no children are more selfish and unwilling to compromise and can be difficult to deal with.

I got to thinking about the conversation later and I am not sure I could function without my kids. Sure there are times when I think geez if I didn't have children I could have a nice big house, that BMW I want, a vacation house on the beach, I could travel all over and not have to worry about anything. I could even hire a maid to clean up the house, although I would probably need to make a mess first so I felt like I was getting my monies worth.

But then I go back to finding my daughter in her underwear outside in front of the house, with no supervision as I am arriving home, and she helped guide me car in the driveway like she was the parking attendant. Or the day she was on the front lawn in her purple princess nightgown, with a bamboo stick, playing kung foo by herself, with noises and all. Or watching my son make a complete mess of his new t-shirt while he made a square bowl from modeling clay and then filled it with water proclaming that it works. Or watching the look on my older boys face when he just played his first full game as the starting left guard for the freshman football team and lost but that didn't matter to him. He was more concerned with me knowing that he started and that he played the whole game (like I wasn't there filming the whole thing). Or my other son when he comes home with a good grade and still (in the 8th grade) puts it on the fridge for everyone to see.

Why would anyone want to give up on experiences like that for cars, houses, toys, etc. It's not worth it to me. I can live in my messy house with no maid, with sidewalk paint and chalk all over the front walkway, tip-toeing around the numerous bikes by the front porch.I wouldn't have it any other way.