The Simple Life

Do you ever look back to an earlier stage in your life and think to yourself “things were so much simpler then” and for a second, long for those days? Whether it be your childhood when you were a kid going to school and playing with friends, or when you were a teenager and you spent weekends going to the mall and movies with friends, or when you were in your early 20s and in college maybe doing a little partying and a lot of studying (*wink*), or when you were in the early stages of your career working hard 40 plus hours a week and then spending your money going out with friends and traveling…

I have these moments frequently when I am in knee-deep in the daily life of parenting, married life, and work-from-home-while-kids-run-around life. Sometimes I think about the good ol’ days when things were simpler. And the funny thing is, I realize that all the stages that came before today, were in their own ways, simpler. But when you are in the thick of it, it never seems simple. Life always seems busy, crazy, chaotic, and almost too much to handle but then, it gets more busy, crazy, and chaotic as time goes by. At least in my experience so far.

Do you ever notice people say “enjoy it now” relating to being in college, being a honeymooner, having a small baby, having small children, having school-age children? (Or even said that to someone else yourself)? I assume that this goes on forever no matter where you are in life. It’s hard to “enjoy it now” because, at least for me, I always look to the future. And I want to “work towards” the next stage and I don’t realize that at this very moment life is good and simple, and every day after it will just get a little more complicated and a little bit crazier. It’s not a bad thing, that’s how life rolls. But it changed the way I saw things when I realized that life right here right now is sweet and simple, even if I think it’s nuts; because in a few years I will think back to today and call it “the good ol’ days when things were easy!”