For local florist Charlene Roos, the start of a new year triggered thoughts about whether she wants to have children. “It’s never necessarily been a priority for me,” said 57-year-old Roos. “But sometimes I think, if I’m going to have them, I’d better start thinking about it pretty soon.”
Roos has been happily married to husband Gene Roos since 1993, having taken annual trips to Morocco and the south of France. Charlene’s younger sister Grace has two adult sons. “Whenever I see them, I think, ‘I want to make my mom a grandma again.’”
“It’s hard because we don’t necessarily have anything in common, children and me,” says Roos. “I suppose I could read them a story. But then what? I’ve been struggling to come to terms with this question.”
Still, Roos thinks she might make a good mom someday.
“I’ve gotten really good at putting a sweater on the dog, and putting his winter booties on and taking them off,” said Roos, who lives in a studio apartment. “That’s pretty much what parenthood is, I think.”
According to sources, Roos has not frozen any eggs or had her period in five years.
“Once in a while I think about what it would be like to be someone who posts pictures of her children on Facebook. I think that would be kind of neat,” said Roos, who is an active member of AARP.
When asked what she would consider her timeline for motherhood to be, Roos seemed unconcerned.
“I’m generally a healthy person,” said Roos, who stopped taking birth control pills at the age of 45, “so I’m not really concerned about it. When the time is right, I think I’ll just know.”
