When Patrick started his own business a year-and-a-half ago, I didn’t expect to cherish the times he didn’t have work. I’m pretty very type A and I expected that the periods of time he was in between c0ntracts to be stressful on all sorts of levels. And they have been.
I stress when he wants to go camping since he has all this time. I argue we have lots of time but no money.
I stress that he enjoys catching up on video gaming when I think he should be doing something more productive (like looking for a job;)).
I stress about figuring out what to do with the kids all summer while not spending any money.
I stress about how to avoid invitations to go do things that we love with friends that are just too expensive.
I stress that there’s a family of kids out there that has to wait longer to know the love of a family because we can’t finish our home study paperwork until our financial situation changes.
You get the idea.
But amidst it all, the time that Patrick spends in the in between is such a sweet time for our family. This summer:
We discovered Geocaching which is the best because no matter how big your family is the cost never goes up.
We spent endless days looking for the crabbing sweet spot near us only to find out it’s really about 2 hours away.
We let the older kids explore their entrepreneurial side and Mr. Business was around to advise and participate. More on this in upcoming posts.
Patrick was able to say “yes” to lots of opportunities he wouldn’t have had time for if he had been working full time. He’s exploring his entrepreneurial side, too.
The garden got more of the love and attention it deserves because Daddy was around 🙂
Surprisingly, his stress level is way down when he’s in the in between which totally changes the atmosphere in our household. He starts a new contract on Monday. While it will be nice to pay our mortgage, return to supporting causes we are passionate about, and press forward with the adoption, I’m already mourning the lost time together that this fall will bring with a full-time contract and graduate school.
So here’s to switching gears until the next in between.
Yes! I love Troy being home, but hate the reason (Chemo treatments). I want him healthy enough to go back to work, but having him home all summer was/is amazing.
Liked your post. It brought back memories of times when Uncle Mike went through a time of unemployment. Was nice to have him home, but…. It is always encouraging to look back and see how God brought us through !