The weather certainly has us all thinking ahead. It's not even April yet and the air conditioners have gone in windows with the temperatures soaring into the 80's. But we're looking forward to summer for different reasons.
Between when my son was born and when my daughter was born, I'd continued to work part-time at the museum. This meant a delicate balancing act of Kelly working M-F with me working the weekend. Simply trade off the kids with little family time other than evenings. Then last summer I took a supervisory role in my department which meant a negotiated extra day. It required some juggling on our part, but the position was technically supposed to be full-time so no complaints about the evenings it required as well.
Last summer, however, it was an endless stream of Kelly alone at the Farmer's Market to pick up our CSA box. It was squeezing outdoor grill time into the window when I got home from work after a dog walk. It was no time to go places or attend events.
This summer has "jam-packed" written all over it. We have a zoo membership, soon to have pool passes, swim lessons, a half-marathon for me, we're attending a festival in Minnesota.
Believe it or not, there are times when I miss getting on a train at 7:30am for an hour commute into the city with my book or iPod. But I'm also very, very thankful to now be a fully unemployed (well, we'll pretend--I do have some side gigs going) Dad who has his weekends free for...whatever. It isn't all family. Sometimes it's a coffee convention I do solo or moving some Dad's Free Night activity to a more convenient time.
I worry about the stress and impact on Kelly for sure as sole breadwinner. It wasn't a decision we came to lightly. We are coming up on the very reason we chose to do it this way though. Because at 10am on a Sunday morning, we can be anywhere. In the yard, on the couch, on the road.
Life often seems to be so full of misery--this summer we'll be celebrating one of the things we all have too little of...free time. (And a certain little 2 year old's birthday.)
Between when my son was born and when my daughter was born, I'd continued to work part-time at the museum. This meant a delicate balancing act of Kelly working M-F with me working the weekend. Simply trade off the kids with little family time other than evenings. Then last summer I took a supervisory role in my department which meant a negotiated extra day. It required some juggling on our part, but the position was technically supposed to be full-time so no complaints about the evenings it required as well.
Last summer, however, it was an endless stream of Kelly alone at the Farmer's Market to pick up our CSA box. It was squeezing outdoor grill time into the window when I got home from work after a dog walk. It was no time to go places or attend events.
This summer has "jam-packed" written all over it. We have a zoo membership, soon to have pool passes, swim lessons, a half-marathon for me, we're attending a festival in Minnesota.
Believe it or not, there are times when I miss getting on a train at 7:30am for an hour commute into the city with my book or iPod. But I'm also very, very thankful to now be a fully unemployed (well, we'll pretend--I do have some side gigs going) Dad who has his weekends free for...whatever. It isn't all family. Sometimes it's a coffee convention I do solo or moving some Dad's Free Night activity to a more convenient time.
I worry about the stress and impact on Kelly for sure as sole breadwinner. It wasn't a decision we came to lightly. We are coming up on the very reason we chose to do it this way though. Because at 10am on a Sunday morning, we can be anywhere. In the yard, on the couch, on the road.
Life often seems to be so full of misery--this summer we'll be celebrating one of the things we all have too little of...free time. (And a certain little 2 year old's birthday.)
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Just a little housekeeping note here--chances are this post will see a click for my 4,000th unique visitor to the blog. Which blows my mind considering this was mostly meant to be a tiny little way for me to chronicle being a parent. A big thank you to those who have taken the time to read, comment, and share.