Worth the Try

It's another Friday night and here I sit blogging and watching Say Yes to the Dress. Does it get any sadder than this? Probably.
Carl is still not home yet. The kids are playing video games. I'll finish here and then curl up with a book.

Recently I've been thinking about life and kids and routines and the roles that we intuitively take on after getting married an having kids.

To us it is important to provide that stable home life that we both lacked as kids. We know all of our neighbors and all the teachers at our schools. We can let our kids go home with friends and not have to worry about them. In the event of any catastrophe I know my children will be well taken care of by our community we have built. It has taken 9 long years, but that community is there and it is strong.

The thing that makes me question this traditional family structure is our reliance on a large house, several cars, and the commitment to our jobs that ties us down and then keeps us working and away from our children so that we may provide this stable safe environment.

I guess it's the "Is this all there is" syndrome that we all get in middle age. We really don't want to do this our whole lives. We want to do more that live for the weekend and then spend that time shopping for things that the kids need. With a mortgage, credit cards, public school schedules, huge cell phone bills, car insurance, how is one ever able to sever the ties from a "normal" American life?

We are going to try and attempt some changes and I will try and document them here. Who knows if we will be successful, but it sure as hell will be worth the try.