Perspective

Perspective is a funny thing.

Mark's been out of town for work. I'm super grateful for his job, but we've all been a little bummed that he had to go. The airport is two and a half hours away. Rather than driving the kids a total of 10 hours to take him to and from the airport, I decided to just hang out here without a car for 4 days. No car. 4 days.

At first I was really dreading it, but then I remembered that not too long ago, I would have been in heaven to have 4 days, without distractions, to just play on the beach with my babies. Back when there were busy work schedules, early morning rushes to get to the babysitter's, not enough time to cook dinner or clean, and longing for more time with my family. Back when I used to actually pay someone to do my grocery shopping because I craved time on the weekend with my family so bad, doing something other than errands. If you would have asked me then if I wanted to be stranded in a cottage on the beach for 4 days with my kids, I would have jumped at the opportunity in an instant.

A few years from now, I'm sure there will be soccer practices, games, school, homework, and not enough time in the day. I'm going to look back on these days of endless hours playing in the sand and our peaceful walks down to the beach and wish we were here again. I'm glad for whatever it was that gave me a new perspective on our situation because one day I'm going to look back and really miss this.