WHAT TO DO WITH A WAD OF CASH

Going to Europe for 6 weeks costs a lot of clams. Let's put all the money we would spend on our Europe trip and put it in a bag. That's a heavy bag. Can you imagine all the things we could get for that money?

Anyone who knows me might say I could sure use a wardrobe update. We could use a larger car. We're pretty crammed in our Ford Escape. Oh, we could probably buy a BOAT! A boat would be a very handy thing to have on Cape Cod. A boob job. A chin tuck. A bigger TV (ours is quite tiny by today's standards). A surround-sound system for our TV. The list goes on...

I'm not railing against each of the things mentioned above. My point is this:

My husband and I frequently discuss financial priorities. We have flowed in and out of materialistic seasons. Obtaining more is always VERY tempting. Yet, if we pull the lens back, what does MORE stuff lead to?

Fortunately, my husband and I are on the same page (presently) about financial prioritization. We discuss the "needs". We are tempted. Sometimes we dabble in "but THIS will be so great and will improve...". Sometimes we actually accumulate. Sometimes we sell, to re-balance and relieve the load of things in our lives.

Recently we came to a conclusion. THINGS add to our burden. EXPERIENCES enhance our lives.

We are buying a house next month. It is a bittersweet acquisition. Yes, we will be planting roots. We will also be in charge of keeping the house updated, in good repair, purchasing more "things" for various family members for rooms. Renting has it's perks, for sure! It's someone else's problem to keep the house nice. I mean, who wants to live in a house fit for a horror movie? But that effort requires time and money. A LOT of it. Can I have an "AMEN"!?!

We decided that in addition to the money dump of keeping our home fit and tidy, we are going to invest in EXPERIENCES.

We will keep our "too small" car. I won't get a boob job. We won't buy a boat, etc...

Not that we have money to do ALL of that right now. As we money fills our accounts we will maintain a MENTALITY of less "stuff" and more LIVING.

We, as a family, will place a value on investing in time together. MEMORIES. We now know, after raising kids for 13 years, that our kids will NOT remember or care about how nice our car is. We know that they remember the time spent together, connecting, laughing, caring.

THAT is why we are going to Europe with money that we could use a hundred other ways.

Granted, it will just be me and the kids and we will miss Taylor very much. But this is just the beginning. There will be more trips to come, rather than that bigger TV, fancy this and fancy that. We'll have what we need, to be sure. But we are now on an experience journey.

May you build a library full of quality time and connectedness with those you love.

WELL-INTENDED MEETS TORNADOES AND FUN

This blog has been hibernating. It's time to revive and feed it.

A DIFFERENT DRUM is an apt name for this blog. From the day I popped out of my mama I heard an entirely different rhythm beating, leading, and moving me. It's only taken 45 years to decide to not feel embarrassed or shy about it. I've decided to not even ATTEMPT to seem normal.

For the next FOUR months (April-July), I shall attempt to journal, type, photograph, and videograph (not a word) the outrageous journey of which the planning stages have commenced. It will be a stretch of time during which well-intended meets tornadoes and fun.

Here are the various topics that will be covered in my A DIFFERENT DRUM blog over the next four months:

1. An ADD, although very well-intended, forty-something mother (me) tries to pack a whole house, while finishing the 2nd semester of an MFA program.

2. A family of five (NONE of whom are organized or calm) will be moving from Colorado to Cape Cod, with two crazy dogs (neither of which are organized or calm).

3. Said ADD forty-something, well-intended, mother will be organizing, preparing, taxi-ing three busy kids (they each have lessons and such) as they wrap up the last year at their school and prepare to attend new schools in a new town.

4. Competent, well-intended, artistic, loving, adventurous, ADD forty-something mother (me) will be planning, activating, strategizing, mastering a 6 WEEK trip to Germany, France, Ireland, and Scotland with herself, three kids, AND a hired Security Ninja, whom we shall call Uncle Pete (yes, you read that right, a Security Ninja)...and who was gifted by my generous husband to protect his family in his stead while he does the final push to move our lives to Cape Cod.

Phew. That last one is a doozie. As a writer, I regret writing such a long run-on sentence.

It's time. It's time to move out of the proverbial warmth of the barn and into the unknown. These next four months will be blog-worthy. I hope you have the stomach to join me. Some have tried, and never returned...bwahahahahah.