monday, april 12, 2010

another sign you are getting old....

when you live in a community such as the one that i do, you can actually see yourself age...you buy your first house(and in my case, my only house...)and move in with a baby or two...which basically means that you don't appreciate that you live in a house because you are so freakin tired all the time. you invest your precious energy in finding playgroups and art classes and gym classes and cooking classes for your adorable little drooling kids that can't even poop in a toilet yet...shlepping them from class to class, making sure their days are scheduled-house shmouse-all you really want to do is take a nap. between changing diapers and cleaning their high chairs..you could be living on the space shuttle and it wouldn't really matter...

and then, your kids get a little older and they go to OTHER PEOPLE'S houses for playdates and you get to take a nap on saturday afternoon-not a long one, and maybe not even one that involves actual sleep (get your minds out of the gutter...)but you get a solid hour or two of quiet and calm...gee, not so bad, but, at this point, you might still be pregnant or thinking of having another one because hey, when the kids are at a playdate, it's kind of manageable(this is where it goes awry for another few years...)

so your kids now can all be out of the house on a saturday afternoon(but still aren't old enough to drive and you still aren't entirely gray/fat/and/or bald) but there are no more strollers or diapers or high chairs or annoying toys that speak or cry or move with a remote control...your family room is actually used for guests and not to house a pack n play or a lego kingdom or a ridiculous ball pit that i must admit to having when we first moved in....

but when you see that you are older, is when you walk into your local(and favorite)bagel store(that also has TCBY) and all of a sudden, a stream of 10 very, very, very young women walk in with strollers and you look at them like they are all crazy...(and they aren't even the babysitters, they are the actual mothers...) you look at your friend and say "thank god that isn't me anymore..." wait a second, that isn't me anymore....holy crap i am really going to be 40!! i am really not having any more babies!!! i am really going to have 4 weeks of peace and quiet(well, exept for ari) in less than 80 days when camp starts!!! where did the time go?

once in a while, when ari and i are walking ALONE on a shabbos afternoon, our "young friends" will stop us and say "how do you not have any kids with you? will we every be able to be like you and not have any kids with us?" we look at them and say "kids, when you are our age, you too, will be able to walk alone...it only means that you are getting older...."

sad, but true....oy freakin vey...

on that note...Happy Monday!