Waiting for Spring

Today the weather finally broke and it rained. It rained hard and steadily and everything was completely wet and I had to use my umbrella and I didn't have the rain cover for Coco's Bugaboo, so it was soaked, and we ran to get on the tram, and we got inside all wet and dripping and we smiled and laughed with each other because somehow, the world just felt different. During that rain, I knew that winter had officially ended. It was spring rain. It didn't feel cold or forbidding like winter rain; it was soft and warm and gentle and loving. And it's here. Finally. We are not going to be in the dark and cold forever. Spring! April showers bring May flowers.

But in a really odd way, I feel like we needed to be in the dark and cold of winter as long as we were. J and I have been thinking way too much about our future plans the past couple of months. So much so that we had lost sight of the present. The very idea that you could lose sight of the present always seemed ridiculous to me, but it's not. We'd been so caught up with when we should have another baby and when we should move back to the States and what we are going to do next and when we're going to do it that we had entirely lost sight of the fact that we are finally here. We have achieved our long-time goals of living in Europe and starting a family and feeling settled - and now we're thinking about the next thing?! 

No. 

No, no, no, no! That is so wrong! 

It is not time to think about the next thing. It's time to just sit back and enjoy what we've got, because we have a seriously amazing thing going here and we've earned it. Then at the end of that enjoying, we'll have a downpayment for a house, and our family will have gotten bigger, and we'll be ready to make a new plan. But that's a long way off. We've got a few years of simply enjoying life as it is before any of that planning is necessary again. What a relief that is!

I realized during our extended winter that I can only plan or enjoy at one time; I don't possess the ability to do them at once. ;) So no more worrying and no more planning for the next few years. (I mean it! :) Welcome, spring! We've been waiting for you.