Dear Receptionist at the Doctor's Office,

I don't know you. But we've been seeing each other for almost 10 years now. I used to think you were super-nice and I never had any anxiety about coming in or calling. But over the last few years I've sensed a change. I get a negative vibe from you. Your niceness does not seem genuine and I actually feel despised by you. I don't look forward to coming in anymore and I get anxious when I have to call. I don't like to be disliked. I don't know why you would dislike me. But my feeling is that you despise me for my kids being on Denali Kid Care and my having more babies.

My husband is a teacher. I believe it is a noble profession. He has all kinds of degrees and training. And he is brilliant. He could do ANYthing he wanted and make more income. But he believes in what he is doing. My husband has a strong moral character and a conviction about what he does. Kids are not going to skate through his class and students and parents often come back and thank him for his efforts. Recently, a former high school student wrote my husband, thanking him profusely, and telling him he didn't know how he would have turned out if my husband hadn't kept him on the right track in school. He said all the young couples he and his wife went to school with are partying or constantly in trouble with the law for illegal substance abuse. This feedback keeps him going. He personally invests himself in his students.

We believe in a big family. We love our children. We agreed from the beginning that you can't wait on perfect circumstances or financial situations to have children. God has always provided. Part of that provision is Denali Kid Care. It is a sad thing that a teacher with tenure can still qualify for for state health assistance. Not all public teachers are great, but I would say most that I know go into the profession because they feel called to it. They put in more hours and effort than they are financially compensated for. Their families sacrifice. As a product of one such teacher, I would know.

So, dear Receptionist, whether or not you are really thinking that, I hope that you aren't judging people for having kids when they "can't afford them". I promise I'll stop having kids one of these days and maybe someday my husband will get paid enough that we don't qualify for Denali. But as long as we do, I need to take advantage of it.