I have this sneaking feeling that life is about to change dramatically.
T will be starting his new job in July. He'll have a few days between the end of his current gig and the start of the new one, during which we are going to attempt our first camping trip with the kids. I'm optimistic that Toby will handle it all okay, though I'm thinking that renting one of the little cabins is a better prospect than attempting to fit the 4 of us in our tent.
T and I used to go fishing together. We would even take a row boat out onto the lake and take turns rowing it around while we tossed in our lures. Now, I'm surprisingly squeamish about a lot of things, but for some reason I seem to handle the whole fishing thing quite well. Okay, so maybe I'd rather use plastic lures than live bait, and I do make him put the worm on the hook in the rare instances we have used worms. I think that's the healer in me, though. I studied Nursing, for crying out loud, so the idea of sticking the poor little sightless critter on a hook to wriggle around until it gets eaten? I find that a little ... distasteful. Don't ask me why I can then clean and de-bone a fish and fry it up in cracker meal. Somehow I have less sympathy for the fish.
Anyway, the point is that I have been thinking about how narrow we have allowed our lives to become since the boys came along. Sure, it's difficult to haul kids to places and enjoy the events as much as we did when we were childless, but I think we somehow bought into this idea that because it's easier to stay home... somehow easier = better.
For the record? Easier does NOT equate to better. Even when it's a total pain to take the kids somewhere, we always have more fun than if we just stayed home. So what's the deal, people? Is it that we just live so far out from the events we usually would go to? Is it that we were reluctant to go camping or hiking when the boys were infants? Sure, that's somewhat valid. But how did we end up here? Where watching our favorite TV shows together is the romantic and/or entertainment hilight of our week?
It's not that I'm unhappy -- far from it. T and I have a great time together no matter WHAT we're doing. We usually engage in witty, sarcastic - yet - adoring banter. We're a little bit co-dependent, sure, but mostly because we have spent the last few years feeling like something of an island unto ourselves. We are actively trying NOT to live our lives by accident, to make our choices without trying to make everyone else happy. And we're quirky types. It's hard to find other quirky types who live close enough to come over for a game of Scattergories, know what I'm sayin'?
Recently, though, I've realized we somehow ended up so caught up in the minutiae of life, we have been neglecting to create the landmarks that break up the monotony and mark the passing of time. The things we don't need other people for, even. The getting out and experiencing.
No more. We are starting afresh - as of now. New Job. Probably new housing situation in the next few months. So, brand-spankin'-new outlook for enjoyment of life, too. The activities don't have to be big and elaborate, we just have to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE and go do stuff. So, we'll start with this camping trip.
I'm going to sit down and fill in the calendar for this summer with THINGS. TO DO. We're going to invite people over more. We're going to venture out to fairs and carnivals and craft shows more. I am going to find a babysitter that will keep the boys while we have an honest-to-god DATE, my husband and I. (Seriously. How did we go so long without that? It's been... more months than I care to ponder.)
If I were the mild-mannered alter-ego of a really kickass superheroine? This is totally where I would totally tear off my frumpy housefrau clothes to reveal a slammin' spandex bodysuit with an Aum symbol emblazoned on the front.
Be glad that I'm not. Spandex and I? We are not such good friends. But - metaphorically speaking? I'm totally taking off the spectacles and unbottoning the starched blouse, baby.
KA-POW!
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