A Little Liberating

Back in October, when Jay got really sick, we started making a mental list (followed by an actual written list, thanks to Jay) of all the things we wanted to do--our bucket list of sorts. At the top of the list was a trip to Germany. Jay spent time in Germany in both high school and college, and he has been intentional about speaking German to both Joshua and Clare in our home. So it wasn't a surprise when he said that taking the kids to Germany was really important to him. Of course the kids are too little to remember it, we reasoned, but that wasn't really the point. The point is that we will share the experience.

There's something really liberating about pushing the bucket list up a few years. We are trying to prioritize the things we want to do instead of trying to convince ourselves that we'll do things when we have enough money/when we have enough time/when the kids are older/when we'll enjoy it more. Yes, there are tons of reasons not to do it, but none of them cancels out the thought of sitting in a hospital room with Jay, thinking, "Boy, I wish we'd gone to Germany when we had the chance."

So while I am terrified by the thought of two children under the age of four suffering from jet lag, I am also somehow grateful that we don't have the luxury of waiting until X, Y, or Z happens. It's helped us to live in the present and realize the importance of having a good time together. We've always been delayed gratification kind of people, so this is a real discipline for us. One that I hope we won't ever take for granted.