My body: Having 2 people live inside you (not at the same time, thank goodness!), changes things. I have lost weight, gained and lost boobs, had crazy things happen to my hair (curly, straight, curly again!), had my innards completely squished, smashed, rearranged and some things removed. My skin used to have a vibrant glow, now it goes from dry desert to oil slick in a matter of days. Nobody warns you of these things when you are pregnant. All of these changes have left me with hands capable of cooking three different things for dinner, repairing broken toys, tying a shoe and helping get a coat on at the same time, dislodging foreign bodies from VCR's, and the ability to comfort a young child. Seems a good trade-off.
My car: Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had a cool car. It had a sunroof, got washed regularly, had leather seats, cool music in the 6 CD changer. When I drove it, I could put the windows down, let the wind blow my hair, sport my cool sunglasses, and maybe have a guy look at me! (Shhhh, don't tell Chuck.) I could drive down the highway with hardly a care in the world and look cool doing it. Fast forward to today. My SUV has the child locks enabled, has cloth seats covered with a great big seat cover to protect it from spills, has enough crumbs and broken pretzels to feed a small country and has an awesome kids sing-along CD in the player. When I drive it, I put the windows up so others in traffic cannot hear the fighting in the backseat, the windows only go down to dry my hair on the way to preschool drop-off, have sunglasses with one arm broken off covering the bags under my eyes, and have only had people look at me to tell me that a binky flew out the window a few miles back. Jealous, aren't you?
My work day: Back then, the alarm went off same time every day. Got up, showered dressed, drove off to work, did my thing and came home. The evening was largely up to me as to what to do. I could be productive or be a lump. My choice. Paychecks came every other Friday. June rolled around and I was a free woman for 3 months! Ahhhh, the good old days! Now, the alarm goes off randomly, sometimes all through the night. I wake, stumble down the steps and go for cartoons a caffeine. What we do each day depends upon what day the calendar says it its. Certain activities on certain days, and heaven forbid I get the day wrong! Some days last forever and I have yet to see the overtime show up in that paycheck. Come to think of it, I haven't seen the check in the mailbox. Hmmm. No days off. Long hours. Unconditional love. Works for me!
So as glamorous as that past life seems on paper, it can never equal what I am living now. The giggles, the hugs, being the one to teach them things and see them learn things for themselves cannot be replaced by a paycheck. I get to play in sandboxes, eat dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, go on daily adventures, be a princess or a swashbuckling pirate, color, paint, do play-doh, stay in my jammies all day and all kinds of other things my old boss would probably frown upon. And my bosses are way cuter...
