About this time two years ago I was laying awake nights debating whether or not I should "quit" teaching and stay home full time with my little bun in the oven. Adam and I spent hours discussing it and crunching numbers. I asked pretty much everyone I knew for their opinion. That seems like a lifetime ago.
Sometimes when I have to put groceries back at the register because I went over my budget or Adam and I say no to eating out, new clothes and concerts with friends for the umpteenth time I wonder if it's really worth it. But then days like today remind me exactly why we knew my "career change" was the right choice.
This morning Abi and I ran a couple errands and liesurely played at The Commons. It seems like everyday she changes and learns something new. She is pretty cautious and careful in general (like her mom) and it always takes her a little bit to get acclamated when we go somewhere. If I didn't encourage her to explore the playground and try different pieces of equipment she would just go down the slide over and over.
After we played for awhile I let her throw some pennies in the water under the clock/sculpture/thing. It was definitely the highlight of her day. And she cried when I ran out of pennies. I couldn't help but remember my mom letting us throw pennies under the same clock/sculpture/thing when I was a kid, only in the old Commons.
We headed home for lunch and naptime. Which I spent folding laundry, starting dinner and reading. It was also Bookmobile day!! The Bookmobile basically parks right in front of our house every other Tuesday afternoon. It is such an awesome program and I LOVE that there are no late fees! Abi thinks it is so cool to walk across the street carrying her bag of books and go inside what is essentially a bus.
It's not that we did anything super-exciting today. And everything we did today was FREE, unless you count the $.06 Abi tossed in the water. But it's days like today I will always treasure and enjoy remembering. I can always go back to teaching but Abi (and her future siblings) will only grow up once. And I know there will come a day when throwing pennies into the water isn't the epitome of fun. It also makes those cute shoes I was drooling over last week seem a lot less important. And I hope that when all our kids are older and grown they will recognize and appreciate the sacrifices we made so they could have a full-time mom and a more family-oriented lifestyle. But I mostly hope they will have memories that they treasure too.
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