Find Myself in a Dilemma

 This is turning out to be a terrible blogging year.  There are 2 reasons for this: 

1. I am in graduate school, working full time, and still parenting children and dogs. 

2. I find my children are at an age that I feel slightly uncomfortable talking about them on the blog.  I am friends with many of their teachers, friends' parents, and some of their friends on social media, so if I talk about parenting struggles on the blog it feels like a violation of my kids' privacy.   

If I'm not talking about parenting . . . what do I have to talk about?  

Speaking of that train of thought . . . Doug and I find we're entering a new phase of parenting.  Andrew is 16 and has a pretty cool friend group. This summer it has dawned on me . . . he's not around all that much.  While it used to be something special for Alexa to be "an only child," it's fairly standard for her now.  It's a weird parenting stage transitioning from how to entertain and compromise with 2 very different kids, to hanging with just Alexa.  

This past weekend, we took a family trip to a lake in Georgia.  One morning, Doug and I found ourselves alone with the dogs.  Alexa was sunburnt and moderately pouting up in the lake house, and Andrew was still asleep.  While I enjoyed the time with Doug- it also kind of scared me.  What are we going to do with our lives?  We only have a few summers left with our kids and what will we do when they're all cool and moved out?!  Do Doug and I even have any joint interests? We've spent the last 16 years doing what our kids like, but what do we like?  I looked up a list of hobbies for couples, to maybe spur on some ideas.  They were not particularly appealing: dancing (I am learning disabled in learning physical sequences- I can't even do the Electric Slide.  I can do the Cupid Shuffle- because the lyrics tell you what to do), chess (no thanks.  I am not strategic) wine making (I don't like wine or beer), roller skating (I can't even walk on paved road without stumbling and rolling down the neighbor's embankment which is a whole other story).  I suggested we buy a project car and fix it up so we can tool around town.  Doug didn't hate that idea and is currently looking at project cars for us to consider.  I wouldn't mind traveling around the US to small towns and National Parks.  I would love to see the Great Lakes area, and go to Minnesota.  Do they really have that accent?!  I hope so.  I would love to see New England.  They're coast is so different from the beaches I usually go to.  I'd like to see their mountains.  I'd love to go to the Gulf area.  

All of this to say- I'm sorry that I am a slacker blogger.  I hope when I finish graduate classes (only 2 more!) that I'll suddenly have all kinds of extra time (hahaha!) and if you have any ideas for hobbies Doug and I could try . . . which could make for some fun blog posts- let me know!

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