Part of life is learning how to adapt. There are constantly changes to, well, everything, and you have to learn how accept those changes.
This is even more true when part of a family. There are more people and more variables and, therefore, more changes. Adding a dog to our family equation also changed everything - we now to have to spend time walking him, bathing him, feeding him, and so on.
These changes can be big (marriage! new job!) or small (new shampoo! different brand of athletic shoes!) or somewhere in between, and I think that they are part of what make life interesting. I like having routines as much as the next person, but I don't mind changing it up.
Sidebar - Change has now lost all meaning to me. What a weird word.
Being a student, or being married to one, also means that fairly sizable changes come every few months. These are more of the medium-sized changes. You're still going to the same place for school and coming home to the same apartment, but your class schedule is almost totally different and, consequently, your non-class schedule.
Last spring semester, Blake had one class until 10PM on Wednesdays. Since I have to get up by 5:30AM or earlier to get to work on time, I needed to go to bed before he got home at midnight. Despite the fact that I slept just fine on my own for the first 28.5 years of my life, I discovered I couldn't sleep easily without him. So, I took to going to sleep on the couch for a couple of hours before he'd get home, wake me up, and we'd go to bed together.
This semester, his latest class ends at 8PM on Tuesdays, which puts him at our metro stop just after 9, so I pick him up on my way home from tap dance. I much prefer this to the midnight arrival, especially in January when he's been outside waiting for a bus for 30 minutes and his feet have changed into icicles.
Next semester, his late nights will be Monday AND Wednesday, and I'll be picking him at the metro both nights. Since I'll probably be gone to tap or choir rehearsal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we quickly realized that we're going to have to find another time for our weekly Family Home Evening.
We've decided that we'll be combining two of our weekly events - Sunday morning family walks (the only time of the week we can always both go on a walk, since not even family grocery walks happen every week) and Family Home Evening. We'll make sure to include a weekly business meeting (usually just going over the calendar) and maybe a gospel discussion, but, most importantly, we're still making sure to spend quality time together, as a family. And, of course, we'll still have a treat, since our Sunday breakfasts are usually something a little more fun than our daily eggs or oatmeal. German Pancakes or cinnamon roll waffles anyone?
We practiced this combination today, as we walked up the road to the Dairy Queen and got cherry dipped ice cream cones. Yum!
This is even more true when part of a family. There are more people and more variables and, therefore, more changes. Adding a dog to our family equation also changed everything - we now to have to spend time walking him, bathing him, feeding him, and so on.
These changes can be big (marriage! new job!) or small (new shampoo! different brand of athletic shoes!) or somewhere in between, and I think that they are part of what make life interesting. I like having routines as much as the next person, but I don't mind changing it up.
Sidebar - Change has now lost all meaning to me. What a weird word.
Being a student, or being married to one, also means that fairly sizable changes come every few months. These are more of the medium-sized changes. You're still going to the same place for school and coming home to the same apartment, but your class schedule is almost totally different and, consequently, your non-class schedule.
Last spring semester, Blake had one class until 10PM on Wednesdays. Since I have to get up by 5:30AM or earlier to get to work on time, I needed to go to bed before he got home at midnight. Despite the fact that I slept just fine on my own for the first 28.5 years of my life, I discovered I couldn't sleep easily without him. So, I took to going to sleep on the couch for a couple of hours before he'd get home, wake me up, and we'd go to bed together.
This semester, his latest class ends at 8PM on Tuesdays, which puts him at our metro stop just after 9, so I pick him up on my way home from tap dance. I much prefer this to the midnight arrival, especially in January when he's been outside waiting for a bus for 30 minutes and his feet have changed into icicles.
Next semester, his late nights will be Monday AND Wednesday, and I'll be picking him at the metro both nights. Since I'll probably be gone to tap or choir rehearsal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we quickly realized that we're going to have to find another time for our weekly Family Home Evening.
We've decided that we'll be combining two of our weekly events - Sunday morning family walks (the only time of the week we can always both go on a walk, since not even family grocery walks happen every week) and Family Home Evening. We'll make sure to include a weekly business meeting (usually just going over the calendar) and maybe a gospel discussion, but, most importantly, we're still making sure to spend quality time together, as a family. And, of course, we'll still have a treat, since our Sunday breakfasts are usually something a little more fun than our daily eggs or oatmeal. German Pancakes or cinnamon roll waffles anyone?
We practiced this combination today, as we walked up the road to the Dairy Queen and got cherry dipped ice cream cones. Yum!
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| This photo has nothing to do with changes in routine, but we can all use more cute pictures of dogs. |
3 comments:
Our Family Home Evening has been a walk for years. I really enjoy it. And we've found it equally strange how easy it was to get used to sleeping with someone when we'd slept alone for so long. Both of us sleep a lot better when the other is present.
I thought about your FHE walk as an example for ours!
I have yet to sleep in the apartment for a whole night without Blake. I have no idea how that's going to go.
I always think it's so sweet how couples don't sleep well apart. When my mom is gone, my dad kind of wanders. When my dad is gone, my mom is restless. I hope to have the privilege of missing someone of my own someday...
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