Life Before Little People

I sometimes have to indulge in a little nostalgia of the days when there were no little people in my life.  The days when I would see babies and toddlers and not give them much thought whatsoever.  I know that seems a little harsh but I was not one of those people dying to have a baby.  Yes, maybe, someday but I was in a self absorbed world.  A world that consisted of falling in love, sailing and living a life that was, to date, my version of the high life.

We lived in a gorgeous little character filled condo.  A far cry from my ground floor bachelor pad which needed bars on the windows for security.  Our view was a spectacular view of the quaint little cove I called home.  In the distance we could see the public dock jutting out into the ocean and a little further in the distance, a marina where our sailboat was mored.  Life was good.  I was working my way up the corporate ladder and the worst part of my day was the commute and the amount of rain in our part of the world.

The major decisions in my life... where we should take our next sailing trip, where to go for dinner, where to set our crab traps, what type of tv we should get....you get the picture. Life was gooooood!

The top ten things I miss most about this past life and in no particular order...

1. Sailing!
2. The view from the condo. Including the awesome people watching.
3. Being in a space where only me and the love of my life existed and all others were drowned out.
4. Eating out whenever and wherever I chose, with adult conversation and no misbehaving kids.
5. Having a car allowance that allowed me to drive a clean, sexy car - aka not a van.
6. Socializing every weekend with adults, talking about adult things.
7. Shopping in stores that don't sell children's wear, mass produce and can't be found in every city center.
8. Having only 1 animal to take care of. I now have 6!
9. When gardening meant watering the 6 containers on my deck and not managing an acre of gardens! 
10. And number 10 would have to be going pee and having a shower (not in the same place) by myself and with no interruptions.

Now that I've had a good nostalgic romp in the good old days, I must tell you the moments I love about this life.  The day to day is minutia and hard but the moments are what make it all worthwhile.

1. Watching my children grow up.
2. Griping about how "no fun" I am and how "fun" Dad is and my little one coming up to me and saying "your fun too Mummy!"
3. Watching my boys beaming with pride when they do something for the first time, like climb the monkey bars, finish their first science project, read by themselves.
4. Seeing them greet their Dad after he's been away for any length of time.
5. Seeing them through that Dad's eyes.  Eyes that haven't already seen the same things day in and day out for the last two weeks...usually much longer.
6. Unlimited hugs...I can never get enough of those.
7. The hilarious things that come out of their mouths like "I love you Mummy...pause...wait for it...but not as much as transformers!"
8. Learning about fascinating topics like mining for clay (in a ditch behind our shop), wood bending (kind of like air bending see Avatar the Air Bender) or the endless things they are going to invent when they are older.  Their imaginations are endless!
9. Seeing their faces light up with joy and wonder at Christmas or Easter or at their McDonald's Happy Meal toy.
10. Unconditional love and the awe at realizing they are totally counting on you.

Awesome moments but I still think I should be paid and why is there never enough wine around when I need it.  So during those moments that are not so awesome, my happy place is on our sailboat with a glass of wine in hand watching the sunset with my husband. I haven't been there in a while, expect on my nostalgic romps.

Cheers,
Susie