Happy Where I Am

Yesterday the girls & I took a trip to the city to visit a good friend of mine and see her new baby R. It was another of those trips where I lug my camera along and not take a single photo. By the time I remembered the camera we were packing up to go and no one was in the mood for photos. I must remember next time that photos come first while everyone is happy. It was such a nice visit and just like every other time I found myself wondering why we don't get together more often, we're not that far away from one another. Maybe now that we're both at home moms and sitting at home every day of the week bored with nothing to do we can find the time to get together more often, ha, ha.

After a nice visit including coffee & lunch I had to pack up the girls to head home. They were both tired, it was nap time and not really the time for a successful shopping experience but I just had two stores to stop at since we were in the city and I had a list & knew exactly what I needed. Easy right? NOT! Who goes shopping with kids? It's ridiculous, not fun at all. At the fabric store I walked out with nothing at all (probably a good thing for the pocket book) but I had a few things I needed and I'm sure they were in the store if I could have found them. There were no carts in the store of course, and Luca did not want to be held, Nollie did want to be held, Nollie wanted to hold hands with her sister, Luca did not want to hold hands. After a bout 10 minutes of slowly wandering around the store (my children move like turtles) both girls were screaming and crying and it was time to leave empty handed. OK, a couple groceries next. The girls get loaded directly from their car seats to the carts & I arm myself with multiple snacks & drinks. After getting slightly distracted by the unnecessaries in the giant sized grocery store I remember that I have a limited window here where the girls are content and I rush over to get my shopping done. All snacks were used up and it was a successful trip. Well that went so well that I think I'll hop over to giant craft store extravaganza. I can think of absolutely nothing that I need there but since I'm in the city I should just take a quick loop through the store and I'm sure they have carts. They had carts but that lasted about two minutes. Luca neeeeded out then Nollie neeeeded out and we were pushing an empty shopping cart around a supersized store at a turtles pace with screams & complants sprinkled throughout. We left the store nearly empty handed & I was mad at myself for going to the store in the first place. Did I really need to waste an hour of my life to buy nothing.

The girls were again strapped into their car seats and we were on our way home. They were both asleep shortly after we pulled out of the parking lot, thank goodness. That extra hour wasted had pushed us to the beginnings of rush hour, agh. As I tried to get out of the city I found myself in the same state of mind that Curt & I always get to when we go into the city. "Why the $%^& does anyone live here, this is rediculous. What, so your have the opportunity to consume more things, at any hour of the day, whenever the impulse strikes." "So your neighbours can see right in your windows, and your practically share yards with everyone around you" "It takes twice as long to get half the distance, you have people nearly smashing into you because they're driving like maniacs" "Do these people actully want to live here? Why would anyone choose this?" I was raging, I had a million other reasons why I would never want to live in the city again going through my head. As I finally got out of the craziness and onto my quiet Garden Valley Road the rage lifted and I started to relax. I know each person has their own idea of what the perfect life entales. I'm sure many would and do wonder why we would live so far down an old dirt road near a town where you can't buy everything you need. Why we would sacrifice a year plus of our life to be able to have the house that we want on a piece of land. How we can stand the quiet and they would have a million reasons why they would not want to live here. Each trip to the city I am reminded that I am more than happy with my life, with where I am living and the choices Curt & I are making.

I spent the rest of the drive enjoying the scenery, the quite picture of two sleeping girl in my rear view and being alone with my thoughts. Content.