Like you, maybe, I have had to give up opportunities in this season while the children are young. For now, my priority needs to be family instead of so many things I want or want to do. No, I don't for a nanosecond wish that I was free of these kids, this man, this house and the responsibilities those require. But, still, sometimes ...... well, honestly, sometimes the sacrifice hurts a little bit.
Like, tonight, I'm sitting here looking over the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration itinerary, and thinking, "Dadblame it, it sure is hard to swallow that dream of going there" (my name is still in the jar; maybe we can still make it happen...). And I'm reading the tweets and Facebook statuses of those gals going to Blissdom '10 and wishing that I could have coughed up the registration fee for that one, too. But I just couldn't. The ballerina needs ballet lessons, you know, and the cadet needs new boots. They all need food. Often. Like, daily. It's crazy how fast money and time disappear around here.
But this isn't about money or time. It's about sacrifices. I do want to make sacrifices for this family; they're so terrific, I'd live under a tree just to be with them! But. Still. It does sometimes sting a little bit when something I really want can't happen.
And so, a few minutes ago, to slap my face and remind myself what matters, I Googled an old dormant blog of mine for a quote that meant a lot to me when the kids were little:
"As I sat
in the grey bathrobe four babies
had nestled against while they nursed,
my brain
started clanging this jubilant message:
There are no shackles in this house,
this is no jail.
These kids are your ticket to freedom like nothing you have ever tasted,
the kind that is not hinged on TV appearances or writing for Life
magazine
or being a size six again.
It's the liberation that comes from the
sheer act of living itself.
When you stop to be where you are, then your life
can really begin."
~ Iris Krasnow
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