Confessions

There are some things you may not know about me.

First:  Even though I’ve been a family childcare provider for 17 years and LOVE outdoor play, I’ve never owned a pair of rubber boots.  Puddle jumping was something I watched the children do.  This summer I finally bought my first pair of rubber boots so I got to jump in puddles too;

Second: Taking pictures with a phone, in the rain, while jumping in puddles is not easy.  Mainly that is because, as technologically savvy as I am with a computer, my ‘smart’ phone baffles me.  I owned the thing for three months before I successfully answered a phone call before it got sent to voice mail – and I still can’t figure out how to retrieve voice mail.

While I was trying to get the puddle pictures from my phone to my computer (don’t ask how long that took) I found some other pictures that I had forgotten about – here is one of them;

Three: I forget a lot of things – it is scary sometimes.  If anyone out there is still waiting for me to do something…you might want to send me a reminder.

Four: September was a tough month for me.  Getting back into the school routine is always rough but this year ALL my babies turned two and I had an empty space which turned out to be very difficult to fill – and then suddenly several people wanted it and I had to say no to some of them.  That was hard.

Bookkeeping was hard too.  Three infants moving to preschool, three school-age children moving from full days to just before/after school, and one empty space meant that my September income was almost half what my August income had been – and I worked the same number of hours.

My husband got another pay increase this September.  As a school bus driver he is gone for  about 7 hours per day including his travel time to/from work.  That’s about half of my workday.  In September he made just $2 per day less than I did.  I found that depressing.  Luckily I don’t like driving and I love my job more than money.

I don’t have to deal with traffic and I get to play outside.  Jumping in puddles, collecting leaves, laughing – those things are worth more than money.  Just look at this;

That structure hasn’t fallen – it was built like that on purpose and I got to watch every step of the process.  That is pretty amazing.  Those are the things that get me through months like September.

Confession Five: I love the short days of fall and winter.  I love getting up when it is dark outside.  I love the cooler temperatures and cozy evenings.  I love the time to reflect and the time to plan.