Mar
24
So… another long weekend has come and gone here Chez Peevish.
We don’t do a lot on our days off. It’s as though we know that soon, we won’t be able to just sleep late and indulge our laziness on a holiday whenever we want. Because if we ever get a referral, and if we ever find ourselves parents to more than a bunch of lunatic cats, we won’t be able to sleep late or be lazy bumps on logs anymore.
Part of me is kind of sad to see those days pass, because let’s face it… who doesn’t love being lazy and whiling away a long weekend doing whatever you want? Like this weekend, for example, where we got up late, lounged around in our comfy clothes, and watched DVDs for almost the entire weekend.
But part of me is looking forward to having a small person around to jolt us out of our laziness. Because as we spend more and more years with just the two of us, there are some things that are fading out.
Take this long weekend, for example. It was Easter, but it really didn’t feel any different than any other weekend. Because there is just the two of us, it’s more of a hassle than anything to do something special to commemorate a holiday. There’s no point in making a big meal or a big fuss. But with children around, the fuss is kind of fun. There are chocolate eggs to hide and hunt for, and hot cross buns to make, and a nice dinner to sit down to.
And the same goes for all the major holidays. Without kids or family (and thanks to the ridiculously high price charged for an otherwise cheap turkey), Thanksgiving is a no-go. Christmas is just a chore, dragging out decorations for just the two of us to look at and then dragging them back into storage again a few weeks later. The only one we really get jazzed for is Halloween because the kids come to us.
We used to celebrate all the holidays like crazy, when life as a couple was new. And when we get home to visit family, of course there’s a special sort of magic to the holidays again. But after many years of just the two of us, there’s not a lot about a holiday to get excited about anymore. So having kids around brings that excitement back.
I know some parents are jaded and find the holidays to be a hassle, even with kids. And I know that for many parents, after a few years there’s a lot of work to holidays, even with kids around to add some excitement and fun. And I can’t tell you how many times some parents have looked at us, their childless friends, with their “oh, YOU’RE in for a SURPRISE” look and smug-with-a-hint-of-condescension tone of voice and told us how much they’d give for just one day of sleeping late.
But we don’t know that side of things, yet. We long for the sound of little feet coming into the bedroom and excited little voices begging to go downstairs and see what the Easter Bunny has brought. We dream of the wonder on a little face at the sight of a Christmas tree after Santa has come. And sitting down to a big family meal might be a nice change from a pan of cheese nachos in front of the TV.
So, yeah… Soon sleeping in will be a thing of the past. Soon there will be perpetual noise and mess and activity. Soon we won’t be able to watch a season of a TV show on DVD at one sitting. But maybe soon, holidays will feel special again. Soon maybe there will be a reason to look forward to a day on the calendar other than the sleep we hope to get. Soon, maybe there will be a little magic.
Seems like a fair trade off to me.
