Do you ever have one of those moments of pure clarity, where you realize something and just everything suddenly makes sense? And does it happen at the most random of moments? It seems that way for me and I had such a revelation this weekend. At the swimming pool of all places.
It was while I was watching my husband and son playing together, laughing and enjoying themselves so much that it came to me. This is a good life. My life is a good life. I am content. I have inner peace. I am truly happy. So simple yeah? There's a bit more to it than just that.
I realized - what looks like a good life to me might not look like a good life to someone else. You might look at my life and see the messy things, the challenging things. Maybe you shudder at the idea of chasing after a busy almost 1 1/2 year old all day long. Maybe the idea of having sticky floors and toys all over the house makes you want to run away. That's ok. I will say I don't love every single solitary aspect of parenthood - there are plenty of very ugly, very real truths about parenthood. I will also say that marriage by itself, even without children, isn't all sunshine and roses one hundred percent of the day either. For me though, at the end of the day, it's about love. I wouldn't have it any other way. This is my purpose, this is where I'm supposed to be. My life with my two boys is good. I couldn't possibly imagine being happier than I am right now.
So now you're going, ok, what's your point? Well my point is, it's ok if what makes a good life to me wouldn't be a good life to you. Maybe your idea of a good life is a house full of many children, where I'm content and happy with my one. Maybe your idea of a good life is no children at all, the freedom to do what you want, when you want it, and I totally respect that. Maybe your idea of a good life is spending your life with someone, but you don't need the "marriage" label to be happy, and that's cool. I guess what I'm getting at is, find what makes you happy and just go with it. Don't let others get you down or let you believe that what you're doing is wrong. And the truth is, I have been having trouble with that for a little bit. But I'm kind of just in a place now (thanks to my working hard on my "let it go" mantra of the year) where I'm like hey, you do you and I'll do me. I respect you, please respect me. And I think by getting to that point, I have finally let myself truly be happy. I'm settling into that happy place and it just feels so good. Peaceful. Content.
The world may try to beat us down, but I still believe that it's a good life. Go out and live yours. However it makes you happy. We only get one.
"You see caution lives far from my mind, and this life of mine, makes me smile sometimes"
Time once again for a Currently post! Is it just me or did February go by really fast? I know it's a short month, but wow. Oh well, we're into March, Spring is on the horizon and here are some things I'm currently up to!
--Currently I am--
Dreaming - About summer and the fun things I hope we'll be able to do this year. Also dreaming about a warm getaway, possibly next winter in advance of our ten year wedding anniversary. We're starting to look at this possibility anyway!
Planning - Nate and I have started having some sit downs aside from our date nights to start planning for our future a bit - mostly in financial terms. We're comfortable, we're fine, but we aren't doing a great job of looking at the big picture, so while it isn't the most fun, we've been starting to figure out our goals for the next five, ten and even twenty years so we know what we need to get in place to continue to have a comfortable financial situation and to ensure that Oliver will have one as well. And actually, I've enjoyed our talks so far, it hasn't been all doom and gloom!
Making - I'm excited to be starting a scrapbook of Oliver's first year! A talented friend of mine who is very good at scrapbooking is going to help me. We've already bought a bunch of the supplies and tonight we're going to start actually putting some of it together! I know it will take some time, but I'm excited to have a keepsake of memories and to actually do something with a bunch of the pictures we have instead of them just living on the computer for all eternity.
Baking - Sadly, nothing! I don't know why either, I have actually been in a baking mood. I guess one reason is Nate's not eating as many sweets lately and I think the other reason is I only have time to bake on weekends and ours have been pretty full up of stuff lately!
Watching - We started the Breaking Bad spin off Better Call Saul and it is so good! I was a little worried it would just be Breaking Bad Jr., but they've done a great job of keeping the essence of what made that show so good while creating it's own story. Also in rotation right now is Shameless,Covert Affairs, Portlandia, Modern Family and we are dragging out the last few episodes of Parks and Recreation for as long as we can, don't want that to end!
And that's what's up this month! Not the most exciting update ever, but it's still winter, so what can I say? Make sure to visit Anne of In Residence and Jenna of Dearest Love for other Currently posts!
