As a kid, I remember having asked my mom what time of her life was the most fun for her. With out pause, her answer was those few years after she and my dad were married but before they had kids. As a daughter, it is slightly uncomfortable to hear that the best time of your parents' life was just before you existed.
Home with Shai today, and putting him down for his nap got me thinking of what my answer would be if one of my kids ever asked me that same question.
I started thinking about those few years after marriage and before kids and how truly fun that time really was. We were grown ups, with all of the privileges that grown ups enjoy, and yet we really didn't answer to anyone but one another. We choose how we spent our money, where we went on a Saturday afternoon, how long we slept in on Sunday, what we ate, how clean or messy our apartment was and everything in between.
Now I truly love my life and having a family was always what I had wanted. However, I was thinking about how parenting sort of takes away a whole lot of control and even fun. It's a different kind of fun, to be sure. But days are driven by nap schedules, doctors' appointments, trips to the park and meals.
When the girls got home from camp today, I faced my daily dilemma of what to feed my family tonight. I don't cook everything from scratch like my mother did, but I try to limit the chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dog dinners to just a few a week. But I still feel like I am making the same thing all the time.
I found ground turkey in the fridge and couldn't bare the thought of turkey sloppy joes again. I have never liked meat in shapes - loaves, balls, but I was simply out of ideas.
I put together some sort of mix including minced fresh onion, cumin, salt, pepper, oregano then added ketchup and egg substitute to the turkey. As I rolled each tiny turkey ball, I felt this weird mix of defeat and pride. However, I can put a fat check mark next today as a homemade dinner night for my kids.
