My kid as the Happy Chemicals IV drip, with on-demand button like morphine after surgery

I was reflecting on that annoying parenting cliche "I never knew love until I was a parent" and an analogy is crystallizing that I haven't read anywhere yet and just wanted to throw out there for discussion. I certainly knew love before being a parent. But now I have an IV drip of happy brain chemicals that have me high as a kite with love/joy/pride in a way I never was before.When you get surgery they hook you up to the morphine IV drip. You get little doses at random intervals and if you need a big hit you can push the button. Having a kid is like having an IV installed to feed the happy brain chemicals into my blood. And it's addictive. And it's more powerful than any drug I could take.There are 4 "happy brain chemicals" 1Endorphins - They mask pain so we can have endurance when necessaryDopamine - Accomplishment. The moving toward my goals. Any accomplishment small or large.Serotonin - Pride, status, and confidence. But this has big mirror neuron effects in us when someone we parent/mentor achieves pride/status/confidenceOxytocin - Chemical love. Trust. Connection. Touch.Additionally, chemical addiction happens when these chemical rewards are unpredictable. My kid fits this bill PERFECTLY. Sometimes I see him and he gives me a huge smile and says "I love you mommy" and my oxytocin spikes. Other times he makes a raspberry spitting noise and runs off. Other times he's defiant and just says "no. no. no." and I get no happy chemical rewards. Some times he acts very autonomous and does things for himself and I get the serotonin hit. Or he'll whine and say "I can't do it" and I get nothing. Sometimes I do a great job with patience and my own parenting goals and I feel proud and awesome and get the serotonin hit, or even make incremental progress and get a dopamine hit. Other times I suck at patience, disappoint myself, and and get a negative hit instead. It's pretty random. Belly laughs release endorphins because we're jiggling our organs around (physical pain) and that chemical high is amazing. It's like runner's high without having to exercise!But there's still a "morphine button" effect going on. I have very little control over whether his actions spikes my chemicals. But there's another pathway I mostly-to-fully control. If I'm really sad I can ask for a hug and I'll get it. (oxy) I can pull up a picture of him and feel warm and fuzzy inside. (oxy) I can look back on him growing/learning/accomplishing (serotonin). I can remember my own progress as a parent (dopamine). I can pick him up and tickle him and we both laugh until it hurts (endorphins).Parenting is really hard but my brain chemistry is more than making up for it. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this.1 summarized from Loretta Breuning's book I, Mammal via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2qzLvXU