Our pediatrician gives little "update newsletters" at each well visit for the corresponding age of the child. Each one of these letters says "Schedule time for yourselves. Avoid social isolation." Whoops.
Within three swift years, we have gone from the "fun couple" who was up for anything ...I, specifically was referred to as "wild Jamie," and I may or may not be proud of this... to (what I'm only assuming our friends refer to us as) the "old couple." Only a few other couples out of two very large groups of friends have had babies. Meanwhile, the vast majority of our friends still goes out to bars or "has people over" just as frequently as ever.
My life is exactly the way I dreamed my "late twenties" would be as a child/teenager. I feel like it is very appropriate, given our current ages and career placements, to have two very young children, a house in suburbia, and a dining room that is chock full 'oToys (I'd rather have a toy room, but whatever..) I'm so proud of us for reaching these goals, and I am even more grateful for the amazing blessings that surround us each day.
It is starting to hit me really hard, however, how much I'm the minority amongst my friends. As grateful as I am for our little family, most of my friends are just as grateful for not having a "family." As time goes on and less friends are "becoming old," it is deeply sinking in how few people shared my timeline for starting a family.
I think that a lot of my posts sound like complaints about my crazy life, and many times things do get really crazy. Still, I wouldn't consider for even a moment trading our life for going out to bars and sleeping until 11. I believe that I had my fair share of time to act irresponsibly. While I'm surprised that we are so alone in our "family world," I don't judge others for not starting their families if they are capable of doing so....(mmm, maybe I do a little bit...but ONLY for assuming fertility will always be their friend..nothing more...) I feel like they judge us, and by judging us, I mean perhaps they'd rather not hang out with me because they'd have to "deal" with my children. I have no concrete evidence to support this theory, but I'm pretty sure it is the case.
It's weird how life happens. ...and I thank God for mine every single day.
Together we can celebrate the craziness of a life full of children, chores, working, working out, eating, eating healthy, and most importantly, ENCOURAGING EACH OTHER TO BE THE BEST VERSIONS OF OURSELVES because we and all of the people we love deserve it!
No social isolation for you next weekend!!! :):):)
ReplyDeleteI need to give you a call while we're snowed in this weekend so we can plan our girly outing.
You are smart to have started your family at the age that you did. And I'm so glad you did because you make some darn beautiful babies!
It's funny how groups of friends evolve. Almost all of my really close friends have babies now and I feel like the outsider. Maybe we should trade groups of friends! ;)