N is for Nothing New

Which then leaves me with telling you something old.

On Sunday, April 14th, I celebrated being a mother for my twenty-sixth year. Where does the time go!

Often I look back on the whole business of “yes, let’s have kids” and wonder what was I smoking - or, not smoking might be more like it - when I nodded in agreement. (as this was “his” idea)

If I had the ability to look ahead and see what was in store I would have realized the importance of marrying rich… or taken up with a band of really successful bank robbers.

Kids cost - and that is nothing new.

The basic cost of raising a child can kill any dream you might have had about owning more than the shirt on your back - really, forget about that Harley, the collector edition Corvette Stingray that caught your eye, the cottage in Cariboo country… which were all within reach when both of you worked and had only to pay for yourselves.

Enter the cute, wee, helpless bloodsucker - aka the fruit of your loins - and from then on in it’s a steady stream of intravenous cash sucking tubes attached to your wallet. 

Let’s take feet - my sweet precious has these amazingly slender feet (4A width), size 10.5 - beautiful longs toes and a high instep - great if you want to be a shoe model.

Try and find shoes for these gorgeous feet - okay, it can be done, but at a price. Since foot care was a specialty of mine there was no compromising when it came to buying proper footwear.

 Runners alone needed to be purchased every three months at the sum of $189.00 - that’s right. Try and find a runner that’s a 4A width and deals with feet that pronate. The running shop I dealt with wasn't interested in the liver I was selling - I did, however, get a discount when I bought two pair. 

Let’s move up to the teeth - yes, it’s the single mother that gets the child which needs orthodontia - but not just a regular set of braces.

Oh no, my sweet precious needed all four wisdom teeth removed. An eye tooth wouldn’t descend - it was stuck up there behind her nose - so there was surgery involved and extra hooks and chains needed to be attached to the braces to pull that rogue tooth from it’s hiding spot.

Then, god forbid I wasn't going to see sweet precious fulfill her dreams of working for Disney so off to film/animation summer camp she went year after year. 

Let’s not forget the backup plan, just in case she still wanted to be a vet, which every little girl that has a horse fetish dreams of becoming, I hired the best math and science tutor for those last three years of high school. 

So… as you can see I was a walking intravenous cash drip (aka the walking dead); my wants were on the back burner of that stove, in that cabin in the country, you know, the one in the Cariboo that I've been dreaming of since before sweet precious was even a thought.

- - - - - -

I’m happy to say - the pressure’s been off for a while... well, sort of... as a parent I’ll never really stop “being there” - but on February 14th I treated myself to a Valentine’s Day gift - and bought myself a shiny new car - ja, Das Auto!

Colour: Shark Blue - Nickname: Sharkie
2.5L VW Golf - Das Auto, with Das Attitude!

And… my house, which has been neglected, is getting a serious facelift this May (better it than me) and… just for the fun of it I’m going to check out that Harley I’ve been wanting since I was twenty-nine.

There’s a cottage in the Cariboo that I’ve got my eye on too… but that may still be a distant dream; one I continue to entertain now and then. (I did go in and get those dreams of mine off the back burner though)

The Cabin in the Cariboo

View from the Cabin in the Cariboo

Dreams cost… and that is nothing new - only now, I think I can afford a few of them.

Have you put your dreams on hold to raise your family? 

Cheers, Jenny