Everything changes and it isn’t a hyperbole to say so. My experience of the mall in the days up to Christmas has been roughly similar, but the people I am with and the things that I am interested in are in stark contrast. Never before have I felt the need to rent a two-seater car to push around in the mall so that my children are entertained as my wife looks for purses and I search out coupons on my phone. The stores are mostly the same, but I don’t feel the need to go into Brookstone and see the “coolest toy” setup. I want to go to the bookstore and find gift sets of Harry Potter so that my children will know them in a way I never could (having grown up before most of them had been written).
I can’t compare my experiences apples to apples. The family of four has no equivalent in my days before marriage and children. I can’t compare working from home with teaching directly. They are completely different disciplines. Furthermore, I have no way to compare my value to those around me at this point to my value in the past. It is my conclusion that comparing apples is impossible because the moment you have picked one off of a tree, the tree ceases to exist.
Metaphors are the only solace we have for these inadequate comparisons.
The moon is a folded napkin, waiting for me to wipe my mouth after the most satisfying day.
My family is a never-ending piggy back ride where no one is sure who is carrying whom at any given time.
My world is a sandbox and in it I play in it. Always.
