Lately, maybe because of my pregnancy, I think alot about how I can simplify things. I don't know where to start, what to give up or change... but the desire to make those changes is so strong that it is consuming most of my waking minutes.
Maybe part of it is because, thanks to the picky eater inside, all I have been eating lately is soup and sandwiches, occasionally a salad. Long gone are the desires for sushi and lattes. So I think about this and it occurs to me, what if I make these changes permanent? What if, instead of eating out and buying expensive, pretty, and yes tasty foods, I just scale it down and eat simple.
What if I extend these changes to my cable, my cell phone, my electronics, my whole life? what would this accomplish? Would I still be happy and satisfied with my life if I gave up keeping up with the joneses? I think I would. I remember as a kid not having a computer, not having 239087409823498 cable channels to watch... we listened to music and read. God, I used to read 3 or 4 books a week, sometimes more. And it was fun. More importantly, it was EASY.
So, I think about things and the kind of life that I desperately want for my child. I grew up eating MickyD's weekly.. having candy and cakes and whatever all the time. Fruit was too expensive. We always had soda (though it was only diet pepsi, that's all my mom drank) and there were times we were out of milk. We never had OJ with breakfast.
Don't get me wrong. My childhood was blessed, poor or not. My parents were fantastic and loved us with the strength of 10,000 suns. But we did not have a healthy balanced diet. We watched a fantastic amount of televison (we all still do), and we laid around complaining about how tired we were.
If it's true that you learn from your parents, then what is it , exactly that I want to teach my children? Here's the first ten things that come to mind:
1) Candy bars are not snack food.
2) You don't have to have fries with your burger/hotdog.
3) Milk is GOOD.
4) There really is no more important meal than breakfast. Cereal is delicious, embrace it.
5) There is such a thing as celebrating without food.
6) Just because there's something on TV to watch, doesn't mean you have to watch it.
7) Exercise/sports should be fun... not a chore.
8) There is an entire world to explore at your fingertips. All you have to do is open a book.
9) A hug can make your whole life better.
10) Without love, true love, there is not satisfying life.
To expand upon #10. True love starts with accepting who you are for what you are. Once that happens, the rest will fall into place. Having been married twice and having discovered myself, my true self, inbetween those marriages... I can attest to the fact that without that, without that self-realization of how valuable *I* am as a person (if only to myself), I do not think I could've found the deep, penetrating love that I feel for my husband. I couldn't have given him that part of me, because I didn't know who or what that part of me was. That might sound hokie, I don't know... but it's true. And I want my kids to feel this about themselves. I don't want it to take 31 years for this to happen. And I really don't want them to deal with what I dealt with for this knowledge to take hold.
I don't think my kids will have a charmed life... but I do think I can help them to help themselves. More than I was helped. I don't believe my parents didn't want me to feel these things, I think... no, I KNOW, they didn't feel it themselves. Which is why it's so important for me to remember who I am at all times.
Anyway... pregnancy update... things are going great as far as I know. I go back for a regular OB check up in a week. I should hear the heartbeat on the doppler. I'll be 11 weeks on Sunday. I thank God every day for every minute I am still pregnant. I hope he continues to bless us and allow this miracle to keep living.
/sappiness. :)
Maybe part of it is because, thanks to the picky eater inside, all I have been eating lately is soup and sandwiches, occasionally a salad. Long gone are the desires for sushi and lattes. So I think about this and it occurs to me, what if I make these changes permanent? What if, instead of eating out and buying expensive, pretty, and yes tasty foods, I just scale it down and eat simple.
What if I extend these changes to my cable, my cell phone, my electronics, my whole life? what would this accomplish? Would I still be happy and satisfied with my life if I gave up keeping up with the joneses? I think I would. I remember as a kid not having a computer, not having 239087409823498 cable channels to watch... we listened to music and read. God, I used to read 3 or 4 books a week, sometimes more. And it was fun. More importantly, it was EASY.
So, I think about things and the kind of life that I desperately want for my child. I grew up eating MickyD's weekly.. having candy and cakes and whatever all the time. Fruit was too expensive. We always had soda (though it was only diet pepsi, that's all my mom drank) and there were times we were out of milk. We never had OJ with breakfast.
Don't get me wrong. My childhood was blessed, poor or not. My parents were fantastic and loved us with the strength of 10,000 suns. But we did not have a healthy balanced diet. We watched a fantastic amount of televison (we all still do), and we laid around complaining about how tired we were.
If it's true that you learn from your parents, then what is it , exactly that I want to teach my children? Here's the first ten things that come to mind:
1) Candy bars are not snack food.
2) You don't have to have fries with your burger/hotdog.
3) Milk is GOOD.
4) There really is no more important meal than breakfast. Cereal is delicious, embrace it.
5) There is such a thing as celebrating without food.
6) Just because there's something on TV to watch, doesn't mean you have to watch it.
7) Exercise/sports should be fun... not a chore.
8) There is an entire world to explore at your fingertips. All you have to do is open a book.
9) A hug can make your whole life better.
10) Without love, true love, there is not satisfying life.
To expand upon #10. True love starts with accepting who you are for what you are. Once that happens, the rest will fall into place. Having been married twice and having discovered myself, my true self, inbetween those marriages... I can attest to the fact that without that, without that self-realization of how valuable *I* am as a person (if only to myself), I do not think I could've found the deep, penetrating love that I feel for my husband. I couldn't have given him that part of me, because I didn't know who or what that part of me was. That might sound hokie, I don't know... but it's true. And I want my kids to feel this about themselves. I don't want it to take 31 years for this to happen. And I really don't want them to deal with what I dealt with for this knowledge to take hold.
I don't think my kids will have a charmed life... but I do think I can help them to help themselves. More than I was helped. I don't believe my parents didn't want me to feel these things, I think... no, I KNOW, they didn't feel it themselves. Which is why it's so important for me to remember who I am at all times.
Anyway... pregnancy update... things are going great as far as I know. I go back for a regular OB check up in a week. I should hear the heartbeat on the doppler. I'll be 11 weeks on Sunday. I thank God every day for every minute I am still pregnant. I hope he continues to bless us and allow this miracle to keep living.
/sappiness. :)
