My Uncle Keith has an old crib, a dresser, and a tiny bookcase that they no longer need since my cousin is now school age. Even though we already furnished Baby Lee's nursery, we gladly accepted the hand-me-downs from them. This second crib would be very useful for when the baby is at my in-laws. Now we just need to purchase a crib mattress for the second crib. This morning, we drove to his house in Manhasset to pick these items up. We got to chat a little bit and the topic of work/life balance came up. Uncle Keith is an attorney with his own practice in Flushing and because of that his work hours are very long. He only takes off on Saturdays and long vacations are out of the question because there is no one at the practice to take over when he is away. My parents work 364 days a year, so to them, Uncle Keith's schedule is very nice already. And here we are, our generation is used to getting the weekends off with 3 weeks of vacation days every year. When my parents were our age, they were already millionaires. To them, money is their focus in life. Growing up, we never went on family vacations. Their work hours were really long. They would leave the house in the morning with us when we went to school and coming back home past 8PM every night. Once they are home, they would scramble to prepare us dinner. Their version of relaxing is really that one hour of TV time every night. Nowadays, since my mom is not tied up to a retail store anymore, she has more time to take care of my siblings and run errands during the day so dinner is ready when my dad comes home and it's much more relaxing for everyone at home. My dad still works 12 hour days though. They live in a big house and drive nice cars but their focus is still making more and more money.
I don't exactly know where I am going with this, but it really got me thinking. Danny and I live comfortably now. We have our own home, no, it's not as big as my parents', but it's more than we need. No, we don't drive nice cars like my parents, but frankly... I don't care about nice cars haha. We don't go on luxury vacations every year, but we are young, we have our whole life to go on vacations. What do I really want in life? What is it that I strive for? I used to work long hours in the city and that caused me headaches, shoulder aches, and back aches. Being infront of the computer every day working on Excel models really gave me all kinds of physical issues- I needed massages every other week. Yes, I was making a lot more money back then compare to my teacher salary now- but I am happy now. No, it's not because of my nice vacation days (though it surely helps) but shorter work days are definitely a bonus though. I've found my calling... for now at least. I enjoy what I do and I am good at what I do. On top of that, I can have a life outside of work. I have time to relax a little. I have time to prepare meals for us, to run errands, to tidy up the house, and most importantly- to spend time with my family.
We are going to welcome Baby Lee's arrival in just a few weeks and I can't imagine raising a child the way my parents raised us. Don't get me wrong, my parents were wonderful parents and still are wonderful parents. They do their best to provide for us and I am just so lucky to have them. But for myself... I want something different. I want time with my family. Though my parents may think differently, but I don't need a huge house nor do I need to drive nice cars. I don't need expensive bags and shoes (I admit, I have my share of purchases).
Danny would always say... we have a roof over our head, we are well fed, what more can we ask for? When it comes down to it, we need so little in life... and yet we want everything. I feel so blessed. I have everything we need and much much more. I can't be happier with where we are right now. We have a lot to work on for our future I'm sure. But for now, I am perfectly content and there is no better feeling in this world than to be content.
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