Lists

Last night, Nick and I watched The Bucket List, which is a movie about living before you die, living life to the fullest and how death can truly put life into perspective. It made me think about all of the lists that we sometimes live by. We have lists of things to do, lists of things to buy, lists of foods to eat/not eat, lists of activities to plan, lists of people to call and lists of lists!!!!

Rather than make a list of things we want to do/see/accomplish before we die, our lists have been more in life stages. The list that we're working on now is The Cradle List. Its what we'd like to do before we transition from doggie mom and dad to the real deal. To us, this is important because we want to make sure that we enjoy and appreciate the time that we have as just "Nick and Linda" before we become "so and so's parents". Its our time to spend frivolously, eat out, take naps and go on vacation. Its the time for happy hours, late nights with friends and a little selfishness.

I thought that The Cradle List was supposed to be more about DOING, but lately I've been thinking and its more about BEING. Being what we want, when we want and how we want. I know that we've been "Nick and Linda" for quite some time now, but we want to make sure that we're ready for that next step, when it happens. Taking our time now, will make us better parents to whoever it is that comes along and also allow us to transition back to just "us" after the kiddos have grown up.

My own parents subscribed to this philosophy - enjoying their youth and each other for about 7 years before yours truly graced them with her presence. To see them, you'd hardly believe that they've been together for longer than they've haven't. I know (partly because they told me so) that its because they took this time to be a couple and to enjoy each other before and during parenthood. Now, they've picked up right where they left off, except with a little more money and a ton more vacation time.