Enjoy the monotony while you can

Before our kids were born life was unpredictable. We made last minute plans, and last minute changes to those last minute plans. Nothing was a sure thing. It was great!

But for about 15 years now our life has been pretty predictable. It has been filled with routines. Rules. Rituals. Traditions. Our photo albums are filled with the same scenes year after year, our holidays follow the same schedule. Except for the kids getting older each year it is hard to tell one year's Fourth of July or one year's Christmas from another.
                                                    

On the Fourth, we always go to the local parade. Our parade has the same things in it every year. These lovely Southern Belles, for example. They are always there. They never get a day older. And they always wear the same thing.

I always make this blueberry/strawberry dessert for the Fourth. Like it or not, that is one thing we will eat for sure, along with the watermelon, which is also a sure thing.

And we always end the day with fireworks. Nobody asks - it's a given.

We've had a good run. Many, many blessings have come our way, and we have been able to keep our family close and enjoy being stuck in a long, deep, monotonous rut.

But I can tell that things are beginning to change. Slowly but surely, our holidays are changing.

This photo is proof of that change, and this is where our photo albums begin to change, where our holidays begin to develop new patterns. Amy sits on the wall, holding her American flag and smiling as she has done for a decade now while she waits for the parade. Lovely photo, right?

Except something is missing. Something that makes this photo different from all the previous sitting-on-the-wall-holding-the-flag photos from previous years. Zach is not there.

That's right. Zach is not there, which means he is not with us watching the parade. This year he watched the parade several blocks away from us, with some of his friends.

(And neither of the kids sat with us to view the fireworks this year. It was weird, really weird, sitting there, just the two of us.)

That is a good thing. I'm fine with it. But it marks the beginning of a new decade. One where things are going to change rapidly.

Life is always changing with kids. They grow up so fast. Rich and I are old parents, and we promised each other when our kids were born that we were going to be present every day, not miss a thing. Rich was at a point in his career where he could take more breaks to be home more often than a lot of dads can be home when their kids are young. We homeschooled, which allowed us even more time together as a family, to build those traditions.

This has been a big year of change - many, many changes. They are all good changes, and I am not complaining, just noting the fact that from here on out, things are going to be different. We had a good run. But nothing lasts forever, nor should it. When you are in the thick of it with young kids, sometimes you think "Again? We're doing the same thing again?" and you wonder if you will ever be able to break out of the monotony. But, as Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project says, "The days are long, but the years are short." (I love her little video)

At least I have all those photo albums, those monotonous photo albums, where we did the same things every year for the holidays and every background is the same. I can look back and remember the monotony of the good old days, the days when we spent every holiday together, the four or us, doing the same old things. The same old things...

The days are long, but the years are short, indeed.





(Note - On my end, my font sizes are all mixed up and I don't know why!! I tried to edit in Blogger and make it all the same, but it looks all mixed up to me after I publish. I have no idea why. Sorry if it looks all whacky. It is a mystery to me, one I can't solve.)