Before you have kids, everyone tries to prepare you for what you're in for. But, as anyone with children knows, you can never really understand all the tips and advice until the nurses hand you your child and makes you take it home. All of a sudden parenthood becomes real and you begin to understand the advice...."never wake up the baby," "nap when the baby naps," "don't get dressed until right before you leave the house, unless you want to walk around with snot and spit-up on you all day." All good advice, but there are a lot of things I didn't think about, deeper realizations that have come as epiphanies over the years. Some of these realizations have been of a serious nature, like when I realized that no matter how old the kids get, I'll never stop worrying about them. The older they get, the worries just get more variable, more numerous, and often more serious. It seems like common sense, but it was definitely a "wow" moment when when I actually sat down and really thought about it.
Other realizations that I've experienced aren't that serious, make me chuckle, and are destined to become material for this blog. One such realization occurred to me recently while I was in the bathroom. Don't worry, I won't go into a lot of detail, but I've always wondered why people (men especially) take reading material into the bathroom. Honestly, do people really like hanging out in there longer than necessary? I've never really understood......until one day the kids were going crazy, driving us nuts, and on impulse I grabbed a book and locked myself in the bathroom. I stayed for a while.....and I liked it. The epiphany came when I realized that, at this point in life, quiet time has become a rare and precious thing. I tried to think of examples of other, normally common things, made rare and valuable by circumstance. I thought about diamonds. Strange? Maybe, maybe not. I remember learning in school that, although diamonds are the very expensive, they're actually pretty common. Other gems like rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are much rarer, but diamonds have become the ultimate symbol of a rare and valuable gem, as well as the well-commercialized symbol of everlasting love. Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right? As I understand it, this is largely due to a diamond cartel who set regulations and prices and pretty much control the worlds diamond trade. I know I'm oversimplifying things a lot, so save all the political-human rights atrocities-blood diamond explanations. My point is, like diamonds, peace and quiet are normally common occurrences (often taken for granted), which have become rare and precious commodities in my house due to the actions of my two beautiful children (AKA the cartel). So, I now have a much better understanding of how important a few minutes of pure peace and quiet can be (no matter where you have to go to find it). I still have no idea why single people who live alone like to read in the bathroom, but whatever makes them happy, I guess.
Another thought......while I now understand how rare and precious my peace and quiet is.....I don't think I'll be able to get away with giving my wife quiet time for an anniversary present. Still pretty sure she'd prefer the diamonds.
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