Additional Pondering

I've a new friend who's has decided, along with his wife, to change course just a bit. Which, in turn, has necessitated a change in his family's living arrangements. My friend's feeling a little down about it...of course. But they're making change for the better and taking control of the situation. And that's awesome, and hard to do.

It was not so long ago that Mr. Rix and I and our new baby with some un-spell-able condition filled a U-Haul, drove to the in-laws' cabin in Wisconsin, put almost everything in storage and stretched our last $50 till his first paycheck arrived. He took a PART-TIME job (with the promise of lots of extra hours here and there)because that's what he could get.

Man that six months sucked. Finally we got a little $$ in the bank - enough to actually move TO Oshkosh (he'd been commuting 50 miles a day, 2nd shift)and we rented an apartment. I found part time work opposite his schedule and we dug our heels in. But man it sucked at the time. We had friends who bought big fancy houses, took vacations, all sorts of stuff and we were still "at the beginning".

So, today I was pondering how nice things are. Mostly because we had to work hard together to get to this place we are. And it's not like we're living large (I mentioned Red Lobster, after all) but we're still together...all four of us. And my kids might complain that they don't have an X-Box 360 or whatever, but we have a great time together and have learned the value of each others company.

I've realized that I really do like my husband. Of course I LOVE him, but he's still my best buddy. We've had the best time together this week doing our dorky stuff. When we were young and newly in love, we swore we'd always be cool, like cool music, do cool stuff. We think we're still cool. I mean, I know we're really not and all. But we think we're pretty cool as a family and as a couple. We don't feel at all like we've turned into "those people" we swore we'd never be. He loves me as much now with my "huge fat ass", "hobit-like figure" and as "a fucking pig who's [sic] face and neck are all the same damn thing" as he did before the medication-induced weight gain. I love him just as much now with his really silly hippie tie up moccasins and Grateful Dead army jacket as I did when he insisted on wearing them back in the day (when they still looked silly - but I never said so).

Thank goodness we went through all that hard stuff because it's just making this part seem like a lot of fun...and this part ain't all peaches and cream either so I know it's just going to keep getting better.

I miss my kids. I've enjoyed their absence. Mr. Rix and I still have fun together. I'm ready to pick the boys up. I'm not ready for them to go off to college or anything yet. But this week gave me a tiny glimpse of what it's going to be like if we keep doing the right thing (not the easy thing) for our family and each other...the boys will leave home and we'll be happy with the next part of our life together.

Hang tight you guys...it'll work out.