Life Before Kids...

I was asked to dig up the attached picture today and it got me thinkin'... my how much free time we had before becoming parents! I wouldn't change a thing, about the before or the after, but my how things have changed. This picture was taken in Vermont, in July 2005... shortly after I met Matt, and long before I could imagine life as a suburban Mom... though in all actuality, not that long before both of those things were a reality!

This summer, I drove a fuel efficient Toyota, that could fit me, two of these ladies, all of our bikes PLUS camping gear... somehow now we need a giant SUV to get 'wee Norah and her gear around!

I also rode my bike hundreds of miles, mostly with some or all of these great ladies...I even rode it 100 miles on a single day. Up a mountain. Now I take my mountain bike around the 'hood, with Norah her trailer... maybe 5-10 miles at most, with a stop at the playground!

This summer I did my first, second and third triathlons... hopefully someday there will be a fourth? I started to realize if I slowed down just a little, that maybe, just maybe Matt was the one for me! I started a financial plan that let us buy our house, I climbed at least a dozen big mountains and I swam in rivers and ponds all over New England.
I also had some GREAT times, some fabulous roadtrips with the ladies in the picture! I haven't known these gals all that long by some standards, but at this point I've known them for more than half the time I've been here in the US - though it feels like much longer. It's hard to see them much these days, with us out in the 'burbs, Julie with a newborn, Sue about to have a newborn, Lori's moved to Texas and Molly's in the middle of moving to Chicago - but whenever I do see them, it's wonderful, and in many ways like no time has passed at all - like we'd just got back from yet another trip to a mountain or beach or race. These days it seems we're mainly getting together for weddings or baby showers, but that's ok too. There's a few new characters in the cast - not only Matt and Norah, but Jeff and Vic and Laurel... and the list continues to grow this year!

I'm looking forward to ever-bigger get togethers, even though I am sure they won't be as often as we'd all like! Cheers ladies (non-alcoholic of course for all you pregnant and nursing mamas!)