Five and Counting
As the song says, life is what happens to you while you're making other plans, right?
Looking back on five years, I'm sort of amazed at the twists and turns my life has taken.
Five years ago I had two children. The oldest had a diagnosis of autism and I spent most of my time shuttling him back and forth between different therapists (occupational, speech, behavioral). My second was four, and attending preschool. I had one free-and-clear hour in my day, every day, to write. He would enter kindergarten in the fall, and I would suddenly have several hours.
I was excited at the prospect. I started planning out my days for kindergarten and then first grade the year after. Eight hours or so a day just to write? I couldn't even imagine.
It wasn't the plan I wanted. I desperately wanted more children. But it was the reality I had.
Then something miraculous happened, and in 2006 I was pregnant with my daughter. In 2008 I became pregnant with my son.
Two absolute miracles, two babies who came into this world healthy and normal when there had been loss after loss after loss.
I remember a moment where the Spirit warned me that by choosing this path, my writing would suffer. I didn't care. I wouldn't trade my babies for even J.K. Rowling's money. Maybe I'll never be as successful as I might have been. And I'm okay with that.
I can see where that warning from the Spirit came true. Miracles and joy that they are, they're also still babies. All my creativity, all my excitement about writing, everything got sucked out the window. All my time and energy got focused on these new additions to our family. You know this, because you read my blog and you've heard me complain about it for nearly four years now.
But the tide is turning. My daughter's in preschool; my son will join her this fall. I now live near my sisters and sisters-in-law, and I'm already making plans to trade off times with our kids - for them to have a break, for me to have time to write.
I'm excited by new pathways in publishing. I'm excited to find the time to get back to committing words to paper (keystrokes to Word?). I'm excited to see where the next five years will take me.
Looking back on five years, I'm sort of amazed at the twists and turns my life has taken.
Five years ago I had two children. The oldest had a diagnosis of autism and I spent most of my time shuttling him back and forth between different therapists (occupational, speech, behavioral). My second was four, and attending preschool. I had one free-and-clear hour in my day, every day, to write. He would enter kindergarten in the fall, and I would suddenly have several hours.
I was excited at the prospect. I started planning out my days for kindergarten and then first grade the year after. Eight hours or so a day just to write? I couldn't even imagine.
It wasn't the plan I wanted. I desperately wanted more children. But it was the reality I had.
Then something miraculous happened, and in 2006 I was pregnant with my daughter. In 2008 I became pregnant with my son.
Two absolute miracles, two babies who came into this world healthy and normal when there had been loss after loss after loss.
I remember a moment where the Spirit warned me that by choosing this path, my writing would suffer. I didn't care. I wouldn't trade my babies for even J.K. Rowling's money. Maybe I'll never be as successful as I might have been. And I'm okay with that.
I can see where that warning from the Spirit came true. Miracles and joy that they are, they're also still babies. All my creativity, all my excitement about writing, everything got sucked out the window. All my time and energy got focused on these new additions to our family. You know this, because you read my blog and you've heard me complain about it for nearly four years now.
But the tide is turning. My daughter's in preschool; my son will join her this fall. I now live near my sisters and sisters-in-law, and I'm already making plans to trade off times with our kids - for them to have a break, for me to have time to write.
I'm excited by new pathways in publishing. I'm excited to find the time to get back to committing words to paper (keystrokes to Word?). I'm excited to see where the next five years will take me.
Sariah Wilson — 4/03/2011 09:07:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I can feel the excitement in your words bubbling up like Mentos dropped down diet coke.
I'm glad you were able to savor your children while they were babies. I remember those days well, and I would never write over rocking my precious ones.
Congratulations for the past five years on the Frog Blog, and the sweet future you can taste.
You really can have it all; just not all at the same time.
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