Back to school for shoes, goggles and giggles

This past week I’ve been back to school. Since the company I work for is in a business I’ve never officially studied, I’m taking courses these first couple of weeks to learn all about the trade. It’s like being back at the university again, only this time it’s the real world business university studies, meaning you don’t get to drink beer in between classes, your mother doesn’t send you food or do your laundry, you don’t get to record lectures and exchange notes with class mates, and most importantly, you don’t have 4 years to finish; we are expected to learn everything about the subject - a matter you take at least one semester to learn about at the university - in a couple of weeks time, and there’s no flunking, no retaking exams; we simply have to know all the stuff by the end of the course. Needless to say, I’m tired. Excited, because I love to learn; happy, because it’s an interesting course, but really quite exhausted from trying to take in a lot of information in a short amount of time, and tired because I can’t throw my books on my desk when I come home and lay down on my bed while calling friends; I have 2 boys and a doctorate thesis writing husband, remember? A dirty house, dinner, dishes, laundry, shopping, Easter crafting, Batman games and bill paying awaits me every evening, and though some of these responsibilities are things I enjoy very much, it’s still difficult after an 8 hour day of intense university level lectures.

This past week, however, I also got my first paycheck, and believe me: I love my new job! Today I took the boys into town and let them pick out a nice pair of shoes each. They both chose black leather tennis shoes – really nice looking and great quality – and it was such a joy being able to buy them shoes from a real shoe store and not the grocery store or Aldi, knowing the shoes wouldn’t hurt their feet or break in a week. As we passed the swimming department of the sports store, the boys notices they had goggles for kids and immediately looked at me beggingly with their sweet great big eyes (we go swimming quite a bit, and goggles are always missed).

This evening before bed, the boys raced around the house wearing pajamas, their new shoes and swim goggles, happy as only 2 boys in pajamas, new shoes and swim goggles can be. I’m so lucky.

By Lovain