places not things

places not things.......

That is our family motto.

Picture this. 

A giant dream home filled with only the best of the best furnishings and textiles. 

Fancy cars. 

Dressing right out of the catalogue. (But really, who orders clothing from catalogues these days anyway?) ....so let's just say dressing.... really really nice.
Exotic vacations to foreign lands.

All this is basically opposite of my life.

I usually let this stuff just roll right off my back.....I am really quite good at not comparing.

I mean, it's kind of hard (and a bit humorous) to compare my life to others' when

a) we live in a tiny 100 year old house.

b) Robby's car has windows you have to physically roll up (remember that? so vintage!)

c) we all know my kids dress like orphans 9 days out of 10. (they do clean up nicely every now and then, I must say)
d)We camp. Yes, we drive alot and camp alot, and we love it....but exotic? no. I've never been further east than Denver, and I've never even been to a foreign land. Canada was AMAZING....but it didn't exactly count as a foreign travel....

And you know what? That's the way we like it. It doesn't bother me one bit.

But it's hard when my kids start to notice what all their friends HAVE (iTouch. it's always an iTouch. "mom evvvvvveryone has one!!"). 

And what all of their friends DO (soccer, baseball, gymnastics, tennis, art classes, piano,  horseback riding, fencing, drama class, pottery, chess club, cheerleading, tuba lessons, boy scouts, girl scouts, tae kwon do, rexquando, sorcery school, clown school.......)

You get the picture....it's a lot of stuff.

There are 8 year olds with more more activities under their [black] belt than I will ever have.

Not only can we not afford so many activities and clubs and lessons.....it's just so much time away from each other. I don't want my kids gone every day after school.....call me crazy.

But a few weeks ago, I had a moment. 

A quick, weak moment where I started to feel sorry. Not for myself--but for them......are they missing out? Look at all these fun activities they could be doing after school, like cooking classes, tv/vcr repair, small business management (wait.....those aren't after school activities.....that's that commerical from the 90s) .....

But really, kids can do just about anything these days, and they DO do everything.

We sat down and talked about it as a family. If they really really really wanted to do _________, then we'd have to pass up our next family trip. 

"What do you think, kids?"

It took about 2 seconds for them both to say NO WAY. 

So we loaded the car and off we went.

I climbed up the rocks before breakfast one morning as the sun poured over the red earth in Moab. 

It allllllll came together (it always does in the desert)

I could hear my kids scrambling over boulders and chasing lizards with their friends. 

They aren't missing out. On anything. They are living, and living well.

Sure--our extra curriculars may be different than some of their friends', but that is what is best for MY kids. 

They come home from school and ride bikes and scoop chicken poop (and they complain the whole time, don't worry). 

They are the best little campers and hikers and explorers. 

And they are happy, which makes ME happy. 

Look at my grubby little family.....I just love us.

Every family is different.

This is my family, don't compare it to yours. 

We don't have everything (haha, not even close) but we have what is important to US.

Every family has different needs and wants, and have different ways of functioning together.

We have found what is best for OUR family.

While this house isn't our forever house, we will always live in something small, (and most likely very old) so we can spend our money elsewhere. 

I am totally willing to skip the shopping spree (who are we kidding, I hate shopping) so we can fill our gas tank for a road trip. 

And I will forever remind myself that just because my kids will never master the flute or be badminton king......they are living well, and they are loving life.....and hopefully learning something along the way.

I hope they look back and are thankful for memories of family road trips, camping under the stars, and dirty faces, and forget about all the "stuff" they never had.
I hope they value the experiences they had in life over all of the "things."

It is vital to your happiness to find what 
works for YOUR family. 

What is important to you....what do you value? 
Make it a priority.....who cares what anyone else thinks.

Stop comparing!

You'll be happier, I promise.