The other day as I drove home from a couple hours spent at the beach I started to feel pretty satisfied with my life. Because I get kinda, you know, whiney sometimes. But after a busy morning of getting work done and a midday of running errands in the heat, we were all pretty content to float in the water for awhile.
Both the kids crashed into a coma during the ride home, so I had a peaceful drive along Lake Washington to remind myself that life’s not really as bad as I make it up to be. For instance, not everyone gets to take a two hour break at the beach in the middle of the day, you know? It’s not something to take for granted.
I was also thinking about our latest camping trip, and the last time we all flew on an airplane, and how easy it was to pack everyone up without all the baby gear to schlepp along. No strollers or playpens or bottles or even diapers! Each kid had a bag full of clothes they dragged behind them and a backpack filled with their own snacks and entertainment. For once I was carrying my own stuff through the airport.
Parenting is a lot like launching a start-up business, I realized in the car. You have wild dreams and expectations and hopes, the joy of birth, the stress and hard work and sleepless nights, the doubt and fear and failing confidence, the renewed hope and second wind, and the joy and stability of an investment well tended.