Transportation

I’ve fallen behind on my 31 days of writing project and find myself WAY past the deadline.  Such is life. As I approach day 90ish, I’ve adjusted my goal with hope to just complete the challenge--whenever that may be.  It’s my experience, right? I will finish when I finish. 

I love the idea of documenting the simple things about life right now and look forward to looking back someday.  While it may only make me feel old, the mundane and boring detail will hopefully provide perspective for my kids.  In moving forward, doesn’t it help to get a glimpse of what’s behind us? There are many instances growing up when I would have benefited from a little more perspective.

At 17, and $1500 later, I was the proud owner of my first car—a silver Dodge Colt. It took every penny to pay for that car and the responsibilities of car ownership quickly began teaching me a thing or two about real life.  I felt myself crossing over from adolescence to adult.  

These days, our dominant mode of transportation is the Chevy Tahoe--looking about as organized as a teenager's bedroom after a month of no parental supervision. Living 10-15 minutes from downtown, we have no choice but to pile in our car if we need to get somewhere.  This is a lot of work with two small kiddos and I find myself being more reclusive because of the hassle.  While I will be making the drive more often as my kids get older, the peaceful green landscape that surrounds us at home is a small price to pay for now.

Living in the country my entire childhood, I never knew anything about the convenience of traveling via bike or on foot. In my former adult life with no kids, we did try the “living in a condo downtown” lifestyle and walked everywhere.  While I don’t miss the early wake up call to crashing garbage cans outside my bedroom window, I do miss the option of traveling everywhere on foot.  It’s such a different way of life.  I found myself more nimble and carefree.  When you have to carry everything, you choose wisely. And on foot, I noticed more about the world around me—not only buildings and businesses, but people.  I found myself more social and inclined to engage in conversation with a complete stranger; a way of life forcing me to slow down and take notice.  This is a side of me I don’t awaken and appreciate often enough.  On my quest to live more simply—this is how I imagine we will travel. 

Work

When I think about work, thankfully the first thing that comes to mind is how fortunate I am.  Part-time I work at home, raising my kids and running the family household.  And, when I’m not a home, I get to go to work and be an entrepreneur running a real estate company with my husband. 

 

This April marked nine years of owning our own real estate company.  For years, people have been wondering how it is that Matt and I work so well together.  We’ve always made a great team.  We think of buying the real estate company at such a young age as our first baby together.  We were young, naive, newly married and with much to discover about one another. 

There was a lot to learn and we committed to learning it all together.  Leadership can be a very lonely place; we needed each other more than ever.  Matt and I have learned that the secret to a successful business partnership has also been the key to our happy almost 12 years of marriage.  We have always remained a united front, maintaining respect for each other, regardless of our differences. 

From day one, defining our roles—both personally and professionally—has been the most helpful.  Once we understood the what and why, while we were both operating in such close proximity to one another, we knew when to yield and when to confront our differences. 

I am most grateful for our business partnership; it has taught me so much about the strengths and differences in our perceptions of how we see the outside world.  I’ve had the opportunity to get to know my husband in ways I wouldn’t otherwise.  The peek into this part of his world has given me more understanding and awareness of how to support him as a husband and my best friend.

When I’m not at the office, I’m at home working.  The work I do at home, raising my babies, can be the most rewarding and the most challenging—depending on the day.  While I am most grateful for the opportunity to be home, I also know that being home full time is not for me.  I crave the social interaction and sense of accomplishment I can achieve working outside of the home.

The days I’m at home look pretty much the same.  We get up and have breakfast together, followed by some play time either in the playroom or outside, depending on the weather.  Carson still naps around 10 and this is when Ava and I can do something, just the two of us.  Usually we are coloring, working on an art project, playing babies or playing a game. 

At noon we all have lunch, followed by more playtime and around 2 pm, we take a much needed quiet time until it’s time to prepare dinner.  Throughout the day, I fold in the activities of running a household—laundry, dishes, and other household chores. 

As a child, I imagined my work as an adult to be in education, I always wanted to be a teacher.  I guess my real life resembles this a little in the ways I teach and coach when I’m at home and when I’m at the office.   I’m enjoying myself most when I am teaching and inspiring others.