Before and After

Before we had kids Daniel and I would drive for hours, for fun, just to be together and go somewhere we wanted to go. We would wander around Home Depot, Best Buy, furniture stores, and ritzy malls not to shop, but to dream.  Long drives meant long talks, and meandering through the shops could take hours. In the times we did nothing our love and our friendship grew.

Today we set out on an adventure with the kids. There were five stops on our list: Drive around a neighborhood we might like to live in, donate the massive quantity of clothes and toys in the back of the car, pick up our check from our realtor (as in, our offer was not accepted), Target and Costco. 

The first 15 minutes of driving around the neighborhood were fun, especially since at every turn Juliana shouted out, "I want to live here NOW!"

After those first 15 minutes, things headed downhill.

I have to pee!
I'm hungry!
When are we going to Costco?

Then the self-entertaining began.

This is a skill my kids possess in great measure, but it's neither a quiet activity nor a gentle one. They played: Who can rip the shoe off someone's foot, who can get the hidden sticker out of someone's shirt, and how many songs can we sing at the same time?

At this point I asked Daniel if we lived in a 3 Ring Circus.

Target was fine--they each carried something and we let them browse the toy aisles for a long time--and Costco is always great fun, especially when free samples and frozen yogurt are involved. But by the time we got home, a full 3 hours later, we were all wiped out.

I looked over at my husband, scarcely able to remember when it was just the two of us, and admitted, "I thought this would be fun."

"I am having fun," he said. "This is good."

It is good. Even though before we had kids we had time to simply drive, wander, and dream, now we have cuddles, giggles, and silly games. Before we had quiet, organization, and time; now we have small hands to hold, large messes to enjoy, and the loud, magical sounds of happy children.

And while I am glad we had our children young, since we will still be young when they are gone, I don't wish those days would come quickly, for I am enjoying just being their