A Change of Plans

It's interesting how your childhood shapes so many opinions about your life moving forward.  It dictates what is normal, expected.  Sara and I were both raised by loving parents.  Sara's mom stayed home with her and her sister, my mom worked.  Each of us I think anticipated the paradigm from our childhood to be the path we followed when we had kids.  For the past 3 years we've tried to follow a path down the middle as much as possible, a solution that tried to factor in all the different demands on our lives, that worked the best for us in that moment.  Sara worked 30 hours a week, spent a day or two at home with the boy(s), and we figured out our own way.  Well, that era came to an end yesterday with Sara's last day of work and she is now a stay at home mom.

It's a decision that looking back has been a long time coming.  Sara was unhappy spending so little time with the boys on the days she worked, weeknights were a crazy complicated mess with laundry, dinner, tired kids, dog walking...and all the other minutiae that takes up time in each day.  After a lot of consideration there was really only 1 factor on the "Keep Working" side of the ledger, finances.  Unfortunately, it turns out money is a big deal.  Sara and I enjoy going out to dinner, planning vacations, buying a few things on the Costco trip that aren't on the list.  Are these conveniences worth their costs?  For now, we've decided no.

Life is complicated, messy, stressful, but when you get to share it with the people that we do, it is also blissful and hilarious and heart melting.  We have no idea how long this will be the plan.  We think for a year or two, but if there's one thing we've learned over the past 8 years together it's that planning can only get you so far.  Situations change and plans change with them, but for now, Sara's only two clients are these two little guys