The Clock, the Puppies, and the Beauty of Biochemistry

There is a moment in every woman’s life, sometimes at twenty-eight, sometimes at forty-two, when she hears it.

Not an alarm, exactly.

More like a whisper from her ovaries saying, “It’s time.”

And suddenly you find yourself cooing over strangers’ babies at the grocery store or lingering too long in the baby-clothing section, wondering how you got there when last week you were buying hiking boots and planning your next backpacking trip.

Biology is sneaky like that.

The Primal Urge to Replicate Yourself

Nature does not ask politely. She throws hormones like confetti. Estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, all conspiring to make you believe that creating another human is the most logical next step. Never mind that your career is finally blooming. Biology does not care about your plans.

It is the same chemical trick that makes my mother’s dog, exhausted and milk-stained after nursing six puppies, start prancing again when she goes back into heat. Her body forgets the exhaustion, the mess, the endless feeding. She is ready for round two because her hormones told her to be.

Oxytocin: The Trickster Hero

Oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, is perhaps the greatest manipulator of them all. It floods a new mother’s brain and convinces her that this tiny, squirming, sleepless creature is the best thing that ever happened. It also helps her forget the trauma of childbirth just long enough to do it all again.

Scientists might call it a feedback loop. I call it divine comedy.

The Grand Chemical Joke

Here is the kicker. Most of our deepest longings, for connection, for sex, for children, for belonging, are orchestrated by the same handful of molecules sloshing around in our bloodstream.

We think we are making rational decisions, but in truth, we are glorified chemistry experiments wrapped in skin. Beautiful, chaotic, oxytocin-drunk mammals trying to make meaning of hormones.

And yet, isn’t it wonderful?

Because even when biology tricks us, it also invites us into the great dance of life. The cycle of exhaustion and renewal. Desire and surrender. Creation and chaos.

So whether you are raising babies, birthing art, nurturing ideas, or just trying to keep your metaphorical puppies alive, remember this:

It is all chemicals.

And somehow, that makes it all the more miraculous.