The Disney Marathon (aka “Life Before Kids”)
The other day my husband was going through some old papers and found a little race recap hw wrote about the 2000 Disney Marathon, which we ran together the year we were married. It was fun reading it- I had forgotten that Mickey Mouse himself started the race, that the theme of the race was “Exhilaration at Every Mile,” and the fact that my husband got so excited at mile 25 he began to sprint. Then we reminisced about the rest of that day- after the race we got Subway sandwiches and went back to our hotel where we got in bed, watched an episode of The Sopranos, and then took a long, luxurious nap. At this point we looked at each other and said “You can tell this was before we had kids.” It reminded me of an afternoon from around that same time that still stands out in my mind. In those days I was working in a chiropractor’s office, and I worked every other Saturday morning. Remember how, before kids, it seemed horribly early to have to wake up at 6:30 am on a Saturday? Hahahahahahahaha. Anyway… On this particular Saturday I worked and then did a bunch of errands afterwards. It was a gloomy, rainy day, and I was tired. My last stop was the library whee I randomly chose a murder mystery. Then I went home- my husband was working all day and evening so I was on my own- got out of my cold, wet clothes, got into bed and READ THE ENTIRE BOOK. Even back then, that was a major luxury. I mean, I didn’t have kids but I was an adult, with a grown-up schedule and responsibilities. Being able to spend the entire afternoon in bed reading was a huge treat. Let’s ignore for a moment that two of my fondest memories involve spending an afternoon lazily in bed. This trip down memory lane made me think of Elisabeth’s post last week about how parenting is a 24/7/365 job. No one can prepare you for it- as a matter of fact, when you’re a new parent it’s actually shocking how much of your old life you have to give up. Of course, it’s worth it. I can’t imagine life without my kids. Interestingly, however, the people I know who don’t have kids (like my sister) seem equally happy with their decision to live a child-free life. And, I’m well aware that my days of having kids at home are numbered (four and a half years… I don’t really want to count the days.) I’ll be able to spend all my free afternoons reading in bed if I want to! Strangely, that thought fills me with sadness though- I don’t want to be an empty nester. You just can’t win! For those of you with kids- do you have a special memory that stands out from your pre-kid days? For those without kids- how did you come to that decision? Any regrets, or are you overall happy with your life?