New math

Once upon a time, there was 1 man + 1 woman and they were in love. Over the next 22 years, 1 man + 1 woman = 4 children + 1 father law + 1 mother in law + 3 dogs + 3 cats + 2 rabbits + 1 hamster. Man and woman have their eye on the prize (retirement). Man is very busy working his company, to the exclusion of everything else. Woman decides it's time to lighten the load. Buh bye, lazy, good for nothing 19 year old. OUT. To all 4 children, "if the animals started off being yours, either take them with you or find them homes or I will take care of it." Child #1 took her dog to college, 1 rabbit + 1 hamster died and all the others were taken to the humane society by woman. Save the 1 cat. Mostly because she's old, an outside cat, and woman LIKES her.

Are you still with me? The load has been lightened to where 1 man + 1 woman = 2 teenagers + 1 father in law + 1 cat.

Until last month. Man decides having child #1, who is fresh out of college, move back home and go to work for his company. And if you've done the math correctly, you know that that puts them up 1 more child and 1 dog.





By now, woman is feeling old and broken and tired and frustrated and is ready to move on to a new phase in her life. Apparently it's not the phase that, until just last year, man and woman were in together. Woman is feeling overworked and underappreciated, so she is going to get a "real" job for the first time in 23 years of marriage.

Stay with me now...

The 2 teenagers whine that it's not fair that child #1 still has 1 dog, so they ask MAN for pets. They're just SMALL PETS, the man says, and pleads their case. Woman, who is sporting a new attitude, agrees. Adding 2 more pets is a FINE idea. (can you sense womans sarcasm? Yes, so do family members. Did that stop them? No.)





Not only that, but small animal #1 is one of those social type mammals, so it wouldn't really be fair having it in a cage all by itself. Woman decides that child #4 should have another social type mammal to keep #3s social type mammal company in the cage.



Woman suggested they look around some more while at the pet store and all of a sudden, aforementioned family members get scared looks on their faces. Hey! Woman is just trying to be agreeable this time, instead of being the bad guy!

Now it's time to check your math...

Last week: 1 man + 1 woman = 2 teenagers + 1 father in law + 1 cat

This week: 1 man + 1 woman = 3 children + 1 father in law + 1 cat + 1 dog + 1 Russian tortoise + 2 guinea pigs

I'm telling you, new math is MESSED UP!

If you sense that I've had a self defining revelation, you would be right. The people I thought would make me happy over the last 23 years have not, and looking back, it was quite selfish of me to expect them to. I chose to be a SAHM, I thought that making everyone else happy would make me happy, and the realization after 23 years of not being able to make everyone else happy has made me unhappy. But, I have a new attitude and it's feeling quite liberating!

Updates are sure to come. Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back soon with some projects I've been working on. :-)