JONI: I’ve never been happier. Never been happier. And with each age I got happier and happier.

CYNTHIA: I certainly feel that way. I’m happier now than I have ever been.

LESLEY: Talking about happy. Did any of you see this article? I think it was in Newsweek recently, that it’s a myth that people who have children are happier? In fact, people who don’t have children, said this article, are happier. That blew me away.

CYNTHIA: I have to tell you, I spent 42 years as a person without children. Having spent the last nine years as a person with a child, if I had missed this experience, I cannot … I used to think people who said the things I’m about to say were, like, smoking something funny. I have become the woman I used to try to avoid. I mean, my goal in life was to avoid the woman who was saying, “Oh, and little Johnny.”  And now, it changed every single particle of my being. It has made me a better person, a better journalist. The idea that somehow my life would be happier – I would have said it, but for me, I’m not saying for everyone, for me it was the turning point in my life.

LIZ: And you were pretty great before you had Spencer.

LESLEY: I feel the same way.

CYNTHIA: Do you?

LESLEY: I had my child when I was 35 and I can’t imagine having a happy life without her. When I say I’m happy, it’s partly because I have a friendship with my daughter. But every age that I went through with my kid was wonderful. There wasn’t a day that wasn’t wonderful.

CYNTHIA: Me neither. I mean that.

LESLEY: I mean it, too. And people think we’re lying. I’m not lying.

CYNTHIA: Not lying.

MARY: No, no, no. I agree with you. I have two daughters and I can’t imagine life without them. They’re clearly the loves of my life, and have been since day one. But I adopted them, and I adopted them when they were tiny babies, so there’s absolutely no difference whatever.

LIZ: Well, Joni and I don’t know what you’re talking about. Though I must say, my godmothership of Cynthia’s little boy has been the most delightful experience. But I don’t know. I would have been a terrible mother. I would have just been permissive. I would say, “Here, go play in the street. Here’s $500.”

CYNTHIA: My mother told me I would be a terrible mother. My mother, who adopted me, said – and this wasn’t said with rancor, this was said with her best shot at honesty, “You’re a professional person. You’re not suited for this. You don’t have patience. You know, you’re interested in yourself.” All the things that are true, that I thought disqualified me from parenthood. And so — listen, the last good eggs dropped.

LIZ: Joni and I don’t know what we’re missing.

JONI: Well, I feel the same about my dog. But, this study, I’m interested in the study and I remember this wonderful book called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. And, in fact, they say the same thing, that people are much less happy when they have children.

LESLEY: Stumbling on Happiness. That’s exactly right. But do you know what it is — this really is about marital satisfaction.

CYNTHIA: Who said anything about marriage?