I’ve been working in the house over the past few days…moving
furniture, cleaning out drawers, organizing closets…doing some things I have
neglected over the past four-and-a-half years.
It’s gotten me thinking about the pre-baby days.
When our girls started to become mobile, around 8 months or
so, we started tinkering with the furniture arrangement in our den. The craziest setup was when we had the couch
and love seat facing the walls, as we were afraid the girls would climb on them
and fall off the seat…or worse, the back.
For the past couple of years, we’ve had all the seating
lining the walls, to create the largest play space for the girls. Every night, after they went to bed, Hubby
would move the big chair to a normal position in front of the TV. Thank goodness the chair has sturdy legs, and
we have good carpet…I’m pretty sure he’s logged at least a mile back and forth
across the den.
This weekend, we moved the furniture almost back to pre-baby
days. We still have the girls’ kitchen
and a couple of toy shelves in the den, so things aren’t quite on-center, but
the couch, the love seat, and the big chair are more or less where they belong.
For the first couple of days, I kept looking over there,
thinking how “grown-up” it felt. Sophistication is relative! And it makes me think of watching ballgames
on lazy Saturdays, and evenings spent on the couch with my laptop when I was
pregnant, researching baby gear and picking out the bedding for the nursery.
After we worked in the den, one of the things I did was
clean out the bread box in the kitchen.
No, I haven’t been growing a science project for the past four
years...the bread box has been home to all my
chargers for my phone and cameras, along with a stack of vacation pictures from
roughly 2005 to 2008.
Of course I had to flip through the pictures, and what a
trip it was down Memory Lane! There were
pictures of Hubby and me in San Francisco.
That is our favorite vacation to date.
Although the pictures don’t begin to do justice to the beauty of the
Napa Valley landscape, I was reminded what an amazing place it is.
There were pictures of Hubby and me two of our favorite
places in NYC…the northernmost areas in Central Park, and walking across the
Brooklyn Bridge. There were pictures of
my dad and me in Las Vegas. And there
were pictures of the last trip Hubby and I took before I got pregnant, to New
Orleans.
How I long to hop aboard a jet plane, eat a mix of fine
meals and hole-in-the-wall discoveries, walk and shop and stop and nap as we
pleased.
But I’ve been reminded over the past few days…each phase,
each stage is a gift. We enjoy it as
best we can in the present, and then we have the gift of fond memories in the
future.
And then we look forward to future adventures, which will be
made even sweeter by who we are – and what we have – in the present.
4 comments:
So very true Mandy - every stage has its own appeal, even though it may seem rather dull compared to the rest at that moment.
Very very true. Guess that's why we have to enjoy every moment!
Maybe it's time for a quick weekend trip with J? I know it would be hard being away from your girls, but a few adults-only meals in a different setting can work wonders for the spirit! : )
hmmm, would you do that? take a trip without the kids? i know you don't have family in your town but maybe leaving them with some friends? (would anyone ever offer?)
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