You all know I constantly bitch and moan about the incessant nature of raising children. Let’s face it, a big red “off” button would get a solid workout in most families am I not right? Well I for one would wear that bastard down before you could say “end of warranty period”.
Yet as flippant as I may come across in my parenting approach, I, believe it or not, really do enjoy the company of our two little humans. Most of the time anyway. Well some of the time for sure..
As I wrote in my last article, this year is the one I’ve been waiting for since moving up here to the northern rivers; Albi finally at kinder, which means 4 1/2 school days a week to myself.
And excited for the year I am! But not without a tinge of sadness.
You see last Monday as we were heading in to do our usual weekly shop, it dawned on me that that would be the last Monday EVER that I would get to hang out with my little man. 😔 And this gave me pause. It made me think of Grace and how little she already wants to hang with her old man. It won’t be long until Albi is the same.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to delay diving back into the workforce these last few years, and although I have lamented the constant nature of solo parenting, this new shift in our day to day lives has filled me with gratitude for having had that time. Gratitude for having had the opportunity to focus on being just a parent. Gratitude for being able to be there 100% during the kids youngest years.
Time is a bitch. We can’t stop it, can’t control it, can’t wind it back (and it definitely doesn’t do us any favours in the physical department.) So the best thing we can do is to make use of it. And for all my worries about being a bum non-working Dad, I reflect on these last few years and realise I did make the best use of the time; I watched and helped my son grow into a little man, and my daughter grow into a young woman. And hopefully I showed them what it means to be a good parent.
So as much as I am ready to dive headlong back into the workplace, I will make sure it doesn’t take up all of my time. They still need a whole big helping of Dad, I still need a side serve of “me time” (bloody hate that phrase), and this life passes by just too damn fast to let it be consumed solely by chasing dollars. Yes money is unfortunately needed to live in this world, but surely we only need enough to ensure we can enjoy our time..?
Don’t rush. Enjoy your children. Enjoy your time. Enjoy time itself. Enjoy the journey. Live. ✌️