ahhh, Catholics!

I find the whole concept of natural family planning stifling at best, and it is fascinating to read about all the support this method has from all the catholic bloggers out there. (note- I don't have anything against this method if it's what you believe is right for you. I'm not a hater!!) Not that I identify myself as Catholic, but I was raised Catholic and my mom is extremely devout. I find lots of topics too uncomfortable to discuss with her, but the idea of sex is particularly cringe-worthy. Not that we ever bring it up. A few months ago, however, she mentioned to me this 'great' article or something on abstinence and how 'powerful' the article was. I had been married for nearly a year at this point, and was left feeling confused and uncomfortable after this phone call. Did she think I wouldn't be having sex? Shouldn't be having sex? My parents always told me sex before marriage was a sin, and even made me become a 'born-again virgin" at age sixteen when they found out I had sex. That is a story for a different day, though...back to the whole natural family planning (nfp) thing, it seems to me that since my husband and I do not plan on having children then we should remain abstinent, since sex is for procreation, and even using the nfp method is only meant to delay the childbearing process rather than to prevent it altogether. Is this what my mother wants for me? I have so many mother issues, but this one, misunderstanding or not, takes the cake. Not that I care what my mother thinks of my sex life or anything, it's really just a curiosity for me at this point. I can talk anyone else's ear off about sex and my views on it and it's importance in society and yada yada, but not my parents, especially my mom. I know this is normal, but I think our mutual discomfort with the topic as a whole is several degrees above normal. I wish we were comfortable enough with the subject to talk to each other openly about it, but I don't see that happening any time soon. So I'll just have to be content with academic musings!