Vacations

    It seems Karl now has an understanding about vacations as he has heard friends talk about going on vacation. He wants to go to Florida and seems to think it will only cost $100 per person to go, oh, I wish that is all it would cost. Vacations are not something Karl would know about as we do not take vacations, maybe a weekend trip to RI or something but that was only once in 3 years. We use to go to G&G's timeshare in NH but haven't done that since moving to Maine in 2010. Our last real vacation was to Florida in 2003, long before Karl & Kyle were born.

  Life is all about choices and we made the decision long ago that I would be home with the boys. We decided that it would be best to live with just the basics so I could work one on one with Karl after the therapists were done their therapy each day. It was the best decision we made as Karl has exceeded everyone's expectations and Kyle is  the 'Rock Star' of Early Intervention. So our decision was the right choice and all their accomplishments prove that daily :)

  All the boys are now in school full days, I am now a Work At Home Mom and balance work & home daily. Since Karleen's Ideas is still in the building years we still live with the just the basics and that is OK with us. We do not have an HDTV as we do not need one, our one game system is a few years old but works fine so there is not need to upgrade and we do not go on vacations. What is important to us is that I can volunteer at the schools, go on field trips and be available for the boys. While our decision was based on what is best for the boys, it was OUR decision, not theirs.

  So now Karl is asking why we can't afford to go on vacation and my heart fills with sadness. So I explain that taking a trip to Florida would probably cost us about $4,000 not the $500 he thought it would. Then I explain that we live on one income as I work at home. I explain to him that I could go get a job and work outside the house but that would mean that I would not be home as much, would not be able to help at school or go on field trips. He thought about what I said for a bit then looked at me and said "Stay home Mom, no work for you."  Then proceeds to explain that it was more important for me to help at school and for me to be home when he got home from school.

   Living in a world where daily I see kids getting everything they want, doing whatever they want and upgrading all their electronics every six months to a year, I am happy to say -

My sons know what is truly important and appreciate the small things in life :)