Do you hear that? That, my friends, is silence. The Girl is at ballet and the Boy is at an all-day chess tournament. (Say it loud, say it proud; we are a family full of nerds!) The older the kids get, the less time I have to myself. Scratch that. The more I appreciate the time I get to myself. Life is crazy as always but I have this new found sense of self-awareness where I realize all of this (stress, issues, life, etc.) is temporary. When I get super stressed at work (which is my baseline state at this point) I know that it's not going to stay like that forever. When the kids drive me crazy, I try not to work myself into a frenzy because they will not stay 9 and 5 forever. I can only teach them what I can for the short amount of time they will listen. Even my relationship with D has evolved to where I realize that being a couple does not define who I am. We've gone through some rough patches over the last few years but we know after 14 years, we still want to grow old together. I don't have it all figured out, nor do I fool myself into thinking I ever will.

Anyhoo. D and the Girl are going to a Father-Daughter dance tonight so I'll be sure to post some pictures later.