Day to Day happenings in my life

Waiting

Waiting for my real life to begin.

Today I heard a piece of music with this title and it set me thinking. I wonder if we are all guilty of waiting for our real lives to begin?
Didn’t it happen the day we are born? Maybe, but nature forces us, from the very first gasp, to strive, to evolve, to learn to be…What?
Once I had mastered the arts of walking and talking, people soon began asking what I wanted to be when I grew up. Why? Hadn’t I started my real life yet? As a child, was I not yet important? Were they telling me I would become, more, better, worthy, when I reach that wonderful stage of “grown up.”

Perhaps my real life began when I left school and went to college? Or was it when I found true love and married my husband? Perhaps it was when my husband and I became parents. Was this my real life? No. I don’t think so because now I was so tired, mired in child raising, cooking, cleaning, money worries, and schooling. I imagined a time when there was space just for me. I was waiting for my real life to begin.
Then my children became older and more independent. They left. I was no longer needed and felt empty for a while, waiting for something.
My husband and I traveled often for a few years, leaving the stress of work life behind us. Even though cruises and nice hotels were fun, it didn’t feel like real life. It wasn’t until my children gave us grandchildren and I felt needed again, did I wonder if this was what, “real,”meant?

I now feel settled and content within myself. I no longer stress about the little things. I’ve learned what’s important. Life seems genuine. We’re still waiting though. Waiting for retirement. Time when we can cash in on all the years of saving for the golden years.

But now at last I feel as if my real life has begun.