In the Thick of the Season

Now that we are deeply entrenched in fall, you really begin to feel the season and the changes that are occurring all around us. I have to confess, the change in seasons is valuable to me, and unless you really live in it, you can't appreciate the life renewing quality that each new season brings, and it never ends. I talk to friends back in Cali and they all rant about how much they love the weather, but I just don't get it. I know, to each his own, but the constancy of the warm weather out west I find completely undesirable, though that's what people live for.

Either way, that's life, and I don't need to convince people of whether I'm right or wrong. We had a grand plan yesterday to hit W Leb and get some supplies for Halloween. I had it all figured out, and we were ready to go before Audrey said she was tired (she had a nightmare the night before) and simply wanted to hang out, so we nixed our plan. This got me to thinking about how hard it is for kids to have to be somewhere all the time, and I still can't help but think that the whole setup of going to school for all of your young life is misguided, and if anything, gears you up for the daily grind of work life.

It seems so unnatural to me to bounce kids, young kids, out of bed at 7:00 AM and rush them off to school, tired and hungry, whereby they have to pay attention and learn. How much really gets done? And the ages are getting younger and parents send kids off to daycare at the age of one and older. Sure, many have no choice, I can understand, but you can't deny that there are a lot of people who just want to get to their jobs and away from their kids.

It begs the question, how much is enough? How much money do two people have to make in order to be happy enough to relax and enjoy their lives? It's never enough, I guess.

Either way, kids ultimately pay the price, and in the long run, so too do the parents by missing out on their kids lives. Of course, this doesn't become clear until much later in life, and by then, it's too late. A sad statement on the world we live in.

I guess my point is, we have the flexibility to shift on the fly, and if and when the kids don't feel well, we can take a step back and relax and enjoy our time at home. There are many parents I talk to who wish they could do the same, then again, it could be just lip service. Who knows? I am impressed at how busy people are, it's crazy, actually. And the situation just feeds on itself.

The state of the American family is surely in a precarious position. I think we need to take a step back and reassess what is really important to us, but of course we never will. Such is life.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.