The Land of Someday

Everyone visits the Land of Someday. Someday I'll take a cruise. Someday I'll learn how to ski. Someday I'll lose that last ten pounds. It's natural to look ahead at what might be and daydream a little. I'm kind of afraid that I'm packing my bags and moving there permanently.

Maybe it's being on leave or the intense, hell-like heat, but I find myself living for Someday just to get through today. House hunting has become comical. When we open closets, things always, always fall out. Usually they fall on me. Our storage rental is so full that M and are are actually afraid to disturb it. I have given away so many clothes, toys and other things we really don't need and we still don't have enough room. So, what is so hard about finding a new damn house? I wish I knew. If we were in the market for a McMansion, complete with a pool and $600 per month a/c bill, we would be set. However, the market does not reward you for wanting a reasonably sized one story on a cul-de-sac. So, we live in the Land of Someday. Someday we'll have a bigger place. Someday we'll both be able to cook in the kitchen at the same time. Someday we'll be able to have more than two people over at a time.

If you don't live in that Land of Someday, you may live in the Land of Someday....with Children. My friend, Maura, likes to tease me with statements like, Someday the kids will take themselves to the bathroom. Someday, we will get to leave the house without children. Someday we won't have to pay for daycare.

As much as I need Someday to help me look ahead to better things, I don't want it to be my only residence. Are we crowded and grumpy? Yes. Do we still find time to appreciate what we have? Yes. Despite the extreme frustrations we have right now, I would never want to miss what's happening right in front of me. I would never want to miss Emily making funny faces or her first smiles and laughs, which she has just started to demonstrate.

I would ever want to miss Luke learning new words like flower and clock. I suppose that's why life as a parent is so examined. There is almost no way to explain how much I love my children and how words seem inadequate when I try to explain how that love surrounds M and I. So, in some ways, I think I get it. You need that Someday along with the present. The Someday is for survival and the present is to help you appreciate what is now.

Now, to show you that life isn't all self examination and gnashing of teeth, here is a video of Luke with a goat. Please notice how he grabs himself at the end. Just like a man.