Digging out
The weather has finally cooled off a bit here, and that leaves for cool evenings and mornings, but midday is still nice and warm. We are still in our bathing suits and shorts here, and it feels a bit like the endless summer.
This time of year is my favorite for lots of beach time. The crowds are gone, and we pretty much have the beach to ourselves during the weekday.
I can’t tell you how nice it is, on the spur of the moment, to head to the beach for some surfing and beach combing. We just load up our boards, a couple of chairs, a small cooler of water and beer, and off we go. We head there at least weekly, sometimes several times a week.
A few months back I met a woman who said that she moved here from Wisconsin. When I asked her what brought her here all the way from up north, she said “The beach! But I have not been to it since I moved here.” I asked her how long she has been here, and she replied “7 years….I have just been too busy”.
As strange as that sounds, it is not uncommon. Many people get complacent about their surroundings. They get wrapped up in the routine of life, and sometimes forget that they live in paradise, be it the mountains, the beach or the desert.
Bill and I promised each other that we would not do that. Here we took this huge leap, packed it up and moved to the beach, and damn the torpedo’s, we are not going to take it for granted.
This past weekend, we went to the trailer and cleaned it up. Ewww, it was nasty dirty. Being in storage for so long, the bugs invaded it, so, we had loads of bug poop etc to vacuum up. I bombed it, and basically sterilized it with bleach products. Bill cleaned out all the storage underneath, scrubbed the outside and now it is all shiny and clean, ready for our first escape…..we just have to dig ourselves out of the mound of routine activities that we piled on ourselves needlessly.
Life should not be about running here, and running there…..scheduled stuff that really sucks the life out of you. My kids don’t need soccer, UIL and such to occupy their time. What they need is quality time, spent with their parents and friends OUTSIDE. Why we signed them up for such stuff is beyond me. It has not been a totally enjoyable experience for us, and Quinn really could take soccer or leave it. I think our society has the notion that your schedule must be crammed and your life must be busy or you are not “succeeding”.
Success for me is having the time to sit outside and sip a cup of coffee while chatting on the phone with a sweet friend. Making time for my family and friends is the most important thing on my schedule, and I am glad to have friends who are the same. I feel very lucky.
The rest of the “stuff”, I am starting to think, is just wasted time….mounds of “business” that we should dig ourselves out of.
What things do you think you could eliminate from your life schedule to make more time for the simple things? How can you set in motion a big change that will be hard, but ultimately be the best thing for your family? Do you have a dream? Tell me about it and what brave thing are you doing, or want to do, to make your dreams come true?
great post,Jody. And it was so nice chatting with you this morning with my coffee
Me too! One day we will have to do it face to face.
I wish more people felt like you do. I don’t like putting my kids in scheduled activities either. It makes life no fun for me or the other kids who get dragged from one activity to the next.
I am letting my middle school kids be in sports and band. But we are not doing the dance classes, gymnastic classes, 4-h, etc. It just gets to be too much.
I love nothing more than spending the day sitting around the table with a board game or singing karaoke with all my kids. Way better than putting them on a schedule.
I agree. I would much rather do stuff together as a family than have our whole weekend tied up because of a 30 minute soccer game.
I have a novel idea — from those of us buried by the daily business of life, won’t you pay us a visit in that nice, clean camper?? I’ve got a pool you can swim in — it’s heated right now!!
LOL! You know, we are talking about doing that very thing…maybe over the holidays. I just need to find a nice little camp ground near your area and we will try and make it. Jill is at home again, so there is no room at the inn.
My dreams of taveling are endless, the ocean has always been in my blood, I was raised in Florida, all I ever want is to be at the ocean that I love so dearly. I thought my life was abruptly over when my husband left us after 23 years of marriage, all my future dreams were gone that we made together, the early retirement and travel to places we had dreampt about together. Instead I found myself without a home, job, savings the whole shebang. It has been so difficult to be both mom and dad and I have had to put all my free time into the last stages of raising my son. My daughter just moved back in to help us financially so the 3 of us are finally making it in that area. While it has been a very difficult last 2 years I have been blest with friends who would not let me go under, one family even took me to Cayman Islands with them so that I could still see the beauty of life. I have dear friends that live in Florida and I have gone to stay with them so I could rest at the ocean. I am going to make it, I can see the hope again, maybe some of the dreams I so longed for can come true, just not in the way I wanted it. I miss my marriage terribly, but will be ok, my life is not over and I am saving this winter so that in the spring I can get back to the ocean and rejuvinate my dream again.
I love coming here because I love how your family loves life, takes chances and fulfills your dreams. Dont stop Jody keep making family memories, teach your children the importance of life and family.
Paulette, you are so very strong. I am very proud of you and it is inspirational to see how much you love life and how dedicated you are to finding the beauty in all of it. Just very inspirational.
What brave thing? Does going back to nursing after being out 23 years count? Its something I’ve thought about for along time now and somehow it just seems right Our youngest is a sophomore in HS and will be leaving in 2 years. I’m doing a Fast track program at the university and my clinical assignment is a neuro floor. I start clinical Thursday …..Just a little intimidating! I have a job (casual) lined up for the ORr to start in January and I can’t wait to get back there. But first 5 more weeks or Neuro!
mak
That is TOTALLY brave. I am an RN, and going back after a long absence is soooo hard. But you can do it! Congratulations!