friday four

…favorite kinds of wealth right now.

Right now is a season of such wealth in our lives, and it has nothing to do with the tangible deposits that go into our bank accounts. You won’t see this kind of wealth on paper. It’s intangible. It’s a feeling. It’s the moments that make me sit back and think this is it.

This is the good stuff.

This week was a trying one in terms of busy. We are talking two flag football games for our oldest daughter in far away locations with 7:30 pm start times. Three flag football practices for our son and Saturday is his Super Bowl playoff day. We are talking two four-hour track meets for our son, both in away locations. This weekend is our daughter’s senior prom, and it’s been a busy week for her having to find time to go to the high school between her college classes and part-time job so she and her longtime boyfriend (who is also on prom court) can take photos together in their themed dress-up day outfits as well as celebrate all the prom court activities such as brunch, etc.

It’s been late nights, my husband and I splitting up so no one has a match or a meet without at least one of us in the stands cheering them on. The middle girls are basically orphans. Ava keeps singing the “Reba” theme song…a single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops…because she and Charlotte are essentially raising themselves at the moment in between their siblings’ activities (they do have their seasons in which the other two feel like they’re the orphans…we are equal opportunity absentee parents, after all).

But in the midst of this very busy moment in life, I’m finding it so easy to see just how fortunate we really are. I mean, what’s not to love? I get to live my dream every day. I get to be present with my family, I get to see all the sports and be there for my kids, I get to shop and take care of my family and my home. Even if we are both busy – and we are – I get to spend every day with my husband because we’re both home. I get to go to the gym when I want and run errands as I please and make hair and nail appointments and get my botox done and plan graduation parties and shop for graduation outfits and senior nights and I just get to do all these things I love so much…and I’m so thankful.

That’s why the Friday Four this week is really just about the four things that are making me feel so wealthy right now.

I am wealthy because I have time.

There’s never enough time in the day, but that’s neither here nor there. I have been given the gift of time. The schedules are full, the evenings are often chaotic, and I live in my car. But I know this is fleeting, so I’m embracing this time and feeling thankful that I have the time to be the mom I am and the wife I am and the friend I am.

I am wealthy because I have a home I love.

I am so wealthy to live in a beautiful home that’s filled with people I love so much (and the cutest dog in the world). I am so thankful to have a place that feels so safe and so good and so peaceful at the end of these very long days. I am wealthy because I have a family who also loves our home and wants to be here, together, as often as possible. I know not everyone loves to be home because they may not love their home or their families or be surrounded by such goodness, so I don’t take that for granted.

I am wealthy because my kids are happy.

I don’t know what we did to deserve four such amazing kids, but I suspect it’s the fact that they’ve spent their lives being raised in a happy household that’s provided them with stability, structure, and happiness. I am so wealthy because our kids have no idea what it’s like to be raised in an unhappy household. They don’t know what it’s like to grow up not knowing what their future looks like. Not knowing how their lives will change year after year or having to tiptoe around an angry parent. They don’t know abuse of any sort, they don’t know worry or fear or stress.

I suspect they are so good because we’ve done a good job raising them to be kind, generous, and funny. I am wealthy because we have four kids who excel at school, in sports, in life, and who are just a lot of fun. They’re not perfect. They have their moments…but they’re damn good kids who thrive.

I am wealthy because ordinary days are the kind I live for.

Sundays as a family. Putting together puzzles. Laying by the pool. Making a big breakfast or baking or making dinner together. Watching movies or taking long walks with the dog. These are the best days, and they are the kinds of days that I wish I could bottle up and keep forever. These days don’t look big, but they feel really big.

This version of wealth isn’t the one attached to a number, but it’s the one attached to my heart. And I hope it’s the kind I never stop appreciating.