Realizing the difference
Throughout the day my husband e-mails me. Every single day. It's a nice feeling when I sit down at my computer during naptime and check my e-mail and see 2 or 3 messages from him. They are always "ILove You", "I Miss You" or just general things going on type e-mails. It really does make my day.
It was at the end of one of his daily e-mails that he typed this quote ""I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'."
I was floored.
Now firstly, my husband is not one to quote. ANYTHING! A poem, a song, a movie...I don't think I have ever heard him quote anything! Okay, maybe once there was an episode of The Sopranos and a few days later I heard him quote Tony Soprano "What do you want an apology or a frickin' Whitman's Sampler? (A great quote if I do say so myself!)
Secondly, for my husband to quote that means he actually really thought something through and he agrees with it. It's been a long road coming if he is saying that he knows the difference between making a living and making a life.
Why is this blog material you ask? Sit right there...I'm going to tell you!
My husband and I basically grew up with nothing. His family had a nice house on Long Island but his father was sick for his whole life. Then tragically, his father died when John was 7. His mother packed him up, sold the house and moved him here. They always had everything they needed but John was never spoiled. Myself on the other hand, grew up in a single parent house. My mother worked her ass off for what we did have and trust me it wasn't much. We always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. I was never spoiled either but looking back I know that I didn't need all that material stuff. I knew my life was better poor than it ever could be with an abusive father in the picture.
It is for these childhood reasons that it is John's goal to buy the boy's as much stuff as they could possibly want. I am not talking toys. I am talking 4 wheelers, cars, private schools. You name it...he wants to give it to them. We never fight, but this is something we disagree on. I too, want to give the boy's everything but I think there are certain limitations. I don't want to be one of those parents that just completely spoil their children and then the kids are the brattiest kids on the face of the earth. I want to be able to buy the boy's a car on their 16th birthday. John wants a brand new car...I am thinking a used car is fine. (And more than I had!) And everything we do give, or buy the boy's I want them to appreciate it, and understand, and maybe even help to earn it. I don't think I am being unreasonable.
I think every parent wants to do for their children what they didn't get. I think every parent doesn't want their children to make the same mistakes they did. It's called being a parent.
At any rate, 6 days a week John works his ass off. He works his normal full-time job 5 days a week and then we own our own business which he works on Saturdays. He works so hard so that I am able to stay home with the boys. He works that hard so we can save money for their college, and he tells me he works that hard so he have the money for those cars, and private school, and 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, and a 2nd home somewhere.
But, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. He's crossing over to the dark side!
He's finally realized "the difference between making a living and making a life!"
Maybe just maybe there is hope after all!
It was at the end of one of his daily e-mails that he typed this quote ""I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'."
I was floored.
Now firstly, my husband is not one to quote. ANYTHING! A poem, a song, a movie...I don't think I have ever heard him quote anything! Okay, maybe once there was an episode of The Sopranos and a few days later I heard him quote Tony Soprano "What do you want an apology or a frickin' Whitman's Sampler? (A great quote if I do say so myself!)
Secondly, for my husband to quote that means he actually really thought something through and he agrees with it. It's been a long road coming if he is saying that he knows the difference between making a living and making a life.
Why is this blog material you ask? Sit right there...I'm going to tell you!
My husband and I basically grew up with nothing. His family had a nice house on Long Island but his father was sick for his whole life. Then tragically, his father died when John was 7. His mother packed him up, sold the house and moved him here. They always had everything they needed but John was never spoiled. Myself on the other hand, grew up in a single parent house. My mother worked her ass off for what we did have and trust me it wasn't much. We always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. I was never spoiled either but looking back I know that I didn't need all that material stuff. I knew my life was better poor than it ever could be with an abusive father in the picture.
It is for these childhood reasons that it is John's goal to buy the boy's as much stuff as they could possibly want. I am not talking toys. I am talking 4 wheelers, cars, private schools. You name it...he wants to give it to them. We never fight, but this is something we disagree on. I too, want to give the boy's everything but I think there are certain limitations. I don't want to be one of those parents that just completely spoil their children and then the kids are the brattiest kids on the face of the earth. I want to be able to buy the boy's a car on their 16th birthday. John wants a brand new car...I am thinking a used car is fine. (And more than I had!) And everything we do give, or buy the boy's I want them to appreciate it, and understand, and maybe even help to earn it. I don't think I am being unreasonable.
I think every parent wants to do for their children what they didn't get. I think every parent doesn't want their children to make the same mistakes they did. It's called being a parent.
At any rate, 6 days a week John works his ass off. He works his normal full-time job 5 days a week and then we own our own business which he works on Saturdays. He works so hard so that I am able to stay home with the boys. He works that hard so we can save money for their college, and he tells me he works that hard so he have the money for those cars, and private school, and 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, and a 2nd home somewhere.
But, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. He's crossing over to the dark side!
He's finally realized "the difference between making a living and making a life!"
Maybe just maybe there is hope after all!
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