You fill in the blank. Change is _________________. I’ve always heard that “Change is inevitable.” “Change is good.” “Change is constant.” “Change is eternal.” Looking back over the last several months of my life, I would agree with all of these. We all have little bitty changes that happen every day (a nap schedule that shifts so the whole afternoon has to be re-planned, a palate that changes so that a child who once refused to eat hot dogs, now does, etc.).

The changes in my life I’m referring to are a little bigger. Now they pale in comparison to a major illness, the loss of a parent, moving to a new city, or starting a new job. I guess the biggest for me was having baby #4. Since I’d had three other babies, this was a welcome and fairly easy change. Normally, however, I really struggle with change. (Chris knows what I’m talking about.)

I moved here when I was 5 and have been here ever since. I know the town well - know what to expect just about everywhere I go - and once I find something I pretty much stick with it. I just don’t really like change (I don’t have to guess long why my oldest is the same way).

But so far this year, I’ve had to change from my childhood dentist (he retired), change banks (too many fees), change health insurance (twice - what a bear!), change auto and home insurance (better rates), and a lease a new minivan (lease expired - lots of research on this decision). Whew! I made it through all of these with only minimal scarring and a few headaches.

The change I think I was least prepared for, however, was deciding to make the change from being “parents making babies” to “parents raising children.” Our last baby turns one next week, and this is about the time we would have started entertaining thoughts of having another. You know, they start walking and don’t really need you quite so much. Even though we had some unbearable awful difficult times with her (she was a little on the cranky side for the first 5 or 6 months), somehow I’d do it all over again if only . . .

. . . if only I weren’t over 35 and scared to death of having an “imperfect” baby . . . if only money weren’t an issue and we wouldn’t sacrifice our current meager lifestyle by having another . . . if only I were younger and could handle a 5th pregnancy as easily as I did my first 2 or 3 . . .

But, change is inevitable. I mean, we have to STOP having babies at some point, right? We talked about all the reasons this was a good time to stop - we fit comfortably in the minivan and around the dining room table. We don’t have to add on to our house or revamp the attic space with our current family size (although we’d like to, but there’s that meager lifestyle again) . We have been blessed with two perfectly healthy boys and two perfectly healthy girls. Now, how balanced is that???

So, we’re changing to a new path in life that no longer includes babies, and we’re working on being more o.k. with that. If I can do this, then changing dentists really ought to be a piece of cake! Right?

“If nothing ever changed there’d be no butterflies” - Author Unknown


Posted In: Parent Care, Sweet Sentiments