Why didn't anyone tell me?

Have you ever felt like you're in "the club" (whatever that may be) on technicalities only - there's a whole lot of insider info you're missing out on and no one bothered to fill you in before you got there?

I felt that way at least once before. The summer after my sophomore year of college I was going to be a camp counselor! I was very excited as I always thought going away to summer camp would be the greatest experience, full of campfires and camp activities - such as swimming in the lake or making crafts out of found objects - leaves, starfish, rocks and whatnot - and, of course, lots and lots of yarn and glue, maybe telling ghost stories by flashlight or whatever things kids did at camp - those were the stories I read about in books, and I wanted them to be MY stories. Thus, as a counselor, I knew, vaguely, that I would be corralling kids from one activity to the next, enforcing lights out and, of course, falling in love with a hunky co-counselor . . . or wait, wrong book . . . this was an all-girls' camp.
However, as new-counselor training progressed, I found EVERY day to be filled with new information I never even considered and kind of felt duped into - I was supposed to go by a "bird name" (a nickname derived from any kind of bird I chose, there's meaning behind it that I can divulge should you truly care) for the REST of the summer, meaning I had all of 2 days to get used to responding to a name I had never before considered going by in my entire life (I chose Rae - the moniker granted to my silver Cavalier only nine months previous) AND I had all of 2 days to completely forget my given name as it was supposedly a game for campers NOT to know who I truly was. In addition to the name thing, there were campfires I was supposed to build by myself at least two times weekly (and somehow got away with never building one . . . ever), there were activities I had never excelled in (volleyball, anyone?) or even thought about participating in (kayaking - who kayaks in Oklahoma?) that I would be required to INSTRUCT. I was to lead Bible Studies, a new one every day, in addition to night time devotions, also new daily - and no, there would be no repeats for the SEVEN weeks of camp, because some of my campers would be there for multiple weeks. These are just a few of the unexpected glitches I found myself running into in pursuit of my All-American Summer Camp Dream . . . and all the while I found myself thinking, "Why didn't anyone TELL me about all of this before NOW?"

And here I am again - in a new club, the Mom Club - wondering why no one ever thought to clue me in before. Before she was born, I spent nine months catching up on "What to Expect When You're Expecting", registering for baby items I assumed I'd need, buying maternity clothes, picking out names, avoiding lunch meats, trying to get exercise in, taking Birthing Classes, considering pain relief methods for delivery and all-around preparing for the arrival of a precious new human being into our family - but hardly did I consider what on earth I would do with her once she was actually HERE. I forgot to get a head-start on What to Expect the First Year, and found myself, after cracking the spine three weeks into her life, saying, "Huh, THAT would have been good to know!" I didn't know there were complications with breastfeeding (which I, fortunately, did not encounter), I just thought they DID it. I didn't even consider there was an alternative to breastfeeding (doesn't everyone do that?); I didn't know there were different thought schools on WHEN to feed (demand or scheduled?); I didn't know how long I was supposed to allow her to exist on my milk - what about baby food? When does that come in? When am I supposed to start considering it? What about her sleep schedule? Soothe her or let her "cry it out"? (When she spent the first hour or so on her first night in our room crying her poor lungs out and her daddy asking me if he should pick her up or leave her there, I literally found myself responding, "I don't know, I haven't read that chapter yet!")

And NOW, now that I finally feel I may be getting a handle on what's going on - she'll be a month old tomorrow. She's not a newborn anymore. Which means all of these things I've finally finished learning about newborns - not important anymore. She's growing - she has new wants and needs, new abilities. She'll be sleeping less (is her being awake now normal or does she HAVE to take another nap?) and eating less often (and I don't know how often that's supposed to be) - I just feel so out of the loop, shocked at how much of a loop there really is. What the heck is going on?

And why didn't anyone TELL me about all of this before NOW?!