Pay day, pay offs, and promises kept

Cliff finally got paid today from his last traveling job...whew! Money has been very tight here. BUT we are hopeful things are FINALLY on the right track after many career changes for Cliff over the years.

I am so grateful he has the stamina to keep going. The economy has been hard on our family since the dot com crash in 2001 and 9/11/01, etc. We have had a lot of times when we could have divorced and/or I could have gone back to work. We just kept believing something good would finally happen. People have told him I needed to get a job to help him. At times I think he was resentful toward me. UNTIL, Holden started to talk and he was/is so proud of the person he was and is becoming.

Then Camden came along and things were hard at first, but we always knew we were doing the right thing by me staying home with them. It made life less complicated in a lot of ways, even though money was tight. We have learned to slow down and enjoy the little things (and people) in life and not possesions as much.

When I was working and Cliff was in college, he promised me once he got a decent job as a computer programmer, we would start a family. We agreed I could stay home with the kids. If I would have gone back to work, I would have been resentful. I wanted to be home, even though it was not always easy.

Now that I am used being a mom, I love it 95% of the time. I see the love in my kids' eyes when they look at me. Holden brings me flowers from the yard and begs to help me cook, do laundry, vacuum and we have a load of laughs too! Camden is doing a lot of nutty stuff Holden used to do at this age. And Camden is pretty funny too. He climbs on everything and is so curious. We have fun watching him and helping him learn about things. He held up his hand today when we were talking about something and pointed to his fingers and said, "numbers." He hears us talking about how old people are and he knows those are numbers. It blew my mind!

We know all our determination as husband and wife and (usually) loving/present parents is paying off. We're better friends to one another as well, especially, now that Cliff has more time off between jobs. Plus, I can see I married a man who tries to keep his promises and who I'm learning to be truly grateful I married. Not all woman would chose my life, to stay home, or a lot of other choices I have made. I'm not trying to push my beliefs on anyone....just expressing myself and gratitude that we did not give up on ourselves. Everyone has the right to live as they see fit, no matter where their castle is, if it moves, and if they have no castle.

Smiles,
Heather :~)

P.S. The photo is from Halloween 2005; a week after our 10th wedding anniversary. Cliff and I were hippies, Holden was Prince Caspian from Narnia, and Camden was an Iowa Hawkeye fan.