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| Photo Credit: Yvonne Rohr |
It's time for 20 Days of Chill - Time to get some new writing done. I didn't participate in this challenge last year, however, I did so in 2018.
This is how it works:
P.J. Harmer aka A 'lil HooHaa comes up with 20 writing prompts for us, and we let our creative juices flow. This is our January schedule:
Thursday, January 2: A new decade
Friday, January 3: Beautiful places
Monday, January 6: Is that chicken?
Tuesday, January 7: Show me the way
Wednesday, January 8: Naps
Thursday, January 9: Snow
Friday, January 10: Fri-Yay
Monday, January 13: Social media
Tuesday, January 14: Cheddar
Wednesday, January 15: Dream on
Thursday, January 16: Popcorn
Friday, January 17: Snapshot
Monday, January 20: Last meal
Tuesday, January 21: Battle of the phones
Wednesday, January 22: Sign it in ink
Thursday, January 23: Spam
Friday, January 24: May I take your order?
Monday, January 27: A cocktail, if you will
Tuesday, January 28: Bring me to you
Wednesday, January 29: Oh, thank goodness!
Today's prompt is
A new decade
Wow, no kidding - it's 2020.
Going through the countless happy new year posts on social media, one caught my attention.
It was talking about a young mother at the gas station store who probably only got two hours of sleep and hadn't washed her hair in a few days. She was chasing her edgy kids who were quick to grab candy from the rack.
While in line at the cash register, she observed a girl whom she labeled as young, pretty and independent, who was probably on her way to have coffee with her friends.
The Mom couldn't help but feeling trapped in the sleepless nights, endless laundry, mindless chores part of motherhood and envying the girl who didn't have to look after anybody else than herself.
"Do you ever miss your life before kids?" she asked.
I guess if you had a wonderful, yet exhausting career, you had to be patient to get pregnant, and if your baby is now a sweet and smart eleven years old...
- your life before kids is so far back you can hardly remember.
- you have escaped spit-up clothes, poopy diapers, terrible twos and threes, car seats and strollers.
- you have made the necessary arrangement and settled in a new life as a working parent.
- you have made new friends to share the rough and the smooth.
- you tend to think that the young, pretty and independent girls are just bridging their years until they do something constructive*
In other words:
There's a time and a place for everything, and no, - no regrets or wishing my old life back.
*Years ago I read an article about a busy family with young kids that spoke to me.
They had a rough night, one of the kids threw up all over the bed and carpet, so they had to do lots of laundry and cleaning while running to the drug store, get groceries, too for the healthy and hungry family members.
The dryer broke, and they had to hang the wet bedding in the living room. Tension was running high, and some nagging and whining may have been going on, you get the picture.
When the kids were finally asleep, the parents were just about to collapse in bed as well.
A childless friend called. "You won't believe the day we've had" she said. "We ran all over town to get new towels for our guest bathroom. The colors that are available just don't match the tiles. It was a nightmare."
That's what I mean by bridging the years until doing something constructive.
How about you? Looking back, do you wish you had your life from ten or more years back? What was your life like back then? What makes you happy today?
Let me know in the comments below. Hope you come back for 19 more days of chill! Don't forget to check out the other posts over at A 'lil HooHaa.
There were weeks of no sleep with our youngest due to chronic illness but I would not give it up or go change it. There are also some very precious memories during those stress filled years. With an empty nest for over 7 years now, except for the sporadic extended visits here and there, life has its own stresses and they look very different from the years of early parenthood. No matter the stage, life is how we perceive it in the moment. Enjoy each journey, live it to the fullest for one day we will all be but a memory to someone.
ReplyDeleteI think, as we all look back on things, we all have some sort of regret, for lack of a better term. I tend to not regret as I believe every strep I've taken during my life has been for a reason. And, in turn, it's helped me to the path I am on and where I am going. That being said, I do sometimes wonder if I had done one or two things different, where would I be? Such as, what if I had taken a job in Nebraska in 2003 instead of waiting for something near home, which came in 2004? My world would be completely different.
ReplyDeleteIt's no different when it comes to kids and no kids. I don't have any and it allows me the ability to do things my married friends with kids can't always do. At the same time, they have something amazing and precious as well. So, it's one of those things where each person makes their own decisions and has to come to terms that they can't always have it all. Always look at the good in what decisions you've made.
Oh ... one quick thing. You have my name wrong above. ;) Happy New Year!