Is There Life After Parenting?
Within two years of graduating from college, I got married, and had my first child. Three more children followed quickly after and by the time I was 30, I had 4 children. I don’t for a minute regret having my children,(as opposed to the regret I have about marrying my ex), but the reality is that I didn’t have a whole lot of time to do a lot of living before I began parenting. I divorced in my mid-30’s and began all over again with my wonderful dear husband. Being a single, working, homeschooling mom to 4 kids during the interim between divorce and remarriage, I spent way too much energy and money just surviving. I didn’t even think of creating “fun to do lists.”
My grandmother encourages me often to look beyond my life now and to think of things I want for myself and for my husband after we emerge from the parenting portion of our lives. Sometimes, when the sleepless nights after our baby’s birth seemed to stretch on for eternity, we talked about our list. You know, the “things we need to do after we’re done raising kids but before we die” list.
That’s right, my husband and I are creating our very own 1000 things we need to do before we die list. I’ll share our top 10 with you:
- Drive across the USA on a motorcycle
- See the Great Wall of China
- Swim in the clear, blue ocean off the coast of Australia and visit New Zealand, where my grandfather was stationed during WWII!
- Visit Yorkshire, England, where my family is from
- Look for Godzilla in Japan
- Explore Jerusalem
- See the wonders in Rome and Greece
- Go 4-wheeling in the Alaskan countryside during summer
- Visit Sicily, where DH’s family is from
- Meet my pen pal in Gomel, Belarus(near Chernobyl)
