The moving truck will be at my old house tomorrow at 8am. In preparation, my hubby took the afternoon off to help pack some last minute things at the old house. As we were going through the office, we made a wistful observation: We are legitimately grown ups now, with all the rights and especially the responsibilities that come with it.
Since my husband's work schedule is extremely demanding, I am the chief administrative officer of our family. I keep track of all financial matters, insurance, taxes, bills, etc., therefore, the files are all labelled in my handwriting. So, today, when we reached a small file cabinet in the back of the office closet containing files in his handwriting, we knew they were at least 5 years old.
As if our educated deduction wasn't enough, the proof was in the titles of several of his file folders:
Denali (hiking)
Fishing
Guitar
Photography
Recognition
Scuba
Travel
As we looked through the files, he remarked,"Jason (his Physicians' Assistant) was right. I used to do lots of really interesting things."
I laughed half-heartedly, then felt a tinge of sadness about it the rest of the day. I was reminded of just how much parenthood changes your life--and your priorities. Our cabinet is now full of files about wills, college savings accounts, retirement plans, insurance, mortgages, taxes, etc...
Our definition of "ad-benture" has certainly changed. We may not have Denali, but I do have a roughed up Yukon. We have not yet taken the children fishing, but do enjoy fish-sticks on a regular basis. Our guitars have Wiggles instead of strings. Photography is still an important part of our life. Recognition? Well, yes, we are certainly noticed when we go out in public. Scuba? Do motorboat bubbles in the tub count for anything? And we still travel...it just requires A LOT more stuff.
9 comments:
That is such a cute (and TRUE) entry! You are a gifted writer.
-Garrett
Moving can definitely take us down memory lane, but, No need to be sad. It's just the season you are in-and I have a feeling I'm right when I say you wouldn't change a thing.....
How true that it changes! I was just thinking yesterday about how much my hubby and I used to hold hands. ALL the time!
We still hold hands. Only not with each other. We're holding little grubby sticky hands.
:-) Chris from Canada
You will get to do all those things again, but with the fullness of heart that comes from having loved your three children from birth to independence. You may be a lot poorer by then (Three in college? That makes me have heart palpitations, especially since I face the same thing!), but your life will have been so much richer!
Your writing is always so sweet :)
We can so relate, Jen. Our definition of hiking in the woods is now chasing the boys up and down our back yard. Camping? All done in the den on a Friday nite or in the backyard. Exercise? Toting little ones up and down stairs and in and out of cars. But I know we'll look back on these days and not trade them for the world. And even one day, they'll be big enough for us to pick these activities back up with them. Parenting does change some of our dreams (or at least puts them on hold) but the pay-off is well worth it. Even if we don't have any money left when all is said and done. :)
Amen, amen, amen, sweetie. Been cleaning the basement for Laura's organization challenge and have been amazed at what I found and what I've let go of.
By thw way, tagged you for a meme today. Ck out my bloggy home when you have a minute! Hope you are having a blessed and wonderful day!
But I know you wouldn't go back for all the adventure in the world. You are living a dream.
So true, so true! I also LOVE how mine can turn ANYTHING into an "ad-benture" (Elizabeth still says it that way, too :-) )and it doesn't take all of the planning/packing/cash that MY idea of an "adbenture"takes. Hope the moving/unpacking process is going well. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! LOL (that's lots of love, but not sure if that's what the FLYLADY uses it as :-) )
Take care!
Amy
We have a saying to describe that adventurous carefree time; BK (before kids). But what an adventure we are on now--lots of adrenalin on a daily basis; we are constantly testing our sleep deprived bodies and overwhelmed minds to their limits--I can't think of a better adventure. Now that our boys are older now, we are beginning to introduce them to some of our BK adventures. We recently took them scuba diving (carefully supervised by instructors, of course) and on our last vacation, we turned them loose on the mountain snowboarding while we went skiing. The days of more personal freedom are coming--thats the good news and the bad news.....
Cindy
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