This is the Life After Children, No Worries

Funny how life slips on by and you hardly notice until a son that doesn’t live with you stops in for a holiday.  Our sons are bachelors, one is enjoying life traveling the world, staying in Air BNB meeting new people and the other lives and works in NYC, travels to California or Europe to a  “Rock” concert with friends when he wants and they both have a life that doesn’t include us anymore.  Not that I’m complaining, I remember the freedom we felt traveling without children or hard obligations to hold us down when we were young too. It was the best times of our young lives.

Decorating use to be such an event, shopping, designing, get beautiful things on sale after Christmas until the house is just as you want it.  Simple elegance.  Now a veteran decorator, I know exactly where everything goes and which motif I want this year. I am the kind of woman who does not need new stuff every year, I like my French country taste.

As we get older we want less and less and actually prefer not to get any more things, we don’t have room for the stuff we have now.  As I was pulling down decorations I found a box of beautiful accent pieces that I bought but never used and was thinking who I could give these to next year.

You know someone asked me recently what was on my bucket list. To be honest I made that bucket list before I was 30 and have completed that bucket list for the most part by 50, there are two things left, one riding an iron bull in a Texas bar and going up in a balloon.  I decided I will forgo the iron bull with this older body but I know I will go up in a balloon.

Sitting by the fire, writing this blog... long ago I use to freak out if I did not have a full homemade dinner waiting as the younger son comes in tonight but I am much more serene now. I made an orange cranberry loaf, I lit candles, put up the carolers over the windows, hung real wreaths, lit the Yankee candles, tea candles around, and as my husband took out of here to pick up number 2 son at the train, I said please go to Big Mikes and get something for you both, he will be famished after a long train ride and I didn’t make anything for our dinner.

Yes,

this is the life after children.