Returning to Sarah

Something happens when you make a life change. Whether that be a change in career, a change of venue, marriage, kids, you name it, something happens to you. Hopefully it's a positive something, if not you may need to rethink your plan.

However, over the past few weeks I have come to realize that I may have morphed a little too far into something I hadn't planned on being...That Mom. You know, the one that seems to always turn the conversation, no matter the topic, back to her kids. I swore up and down when the decision was made we'd start a family that I wouldn't be That Mom. I promised myself I would show just as much interest in my friends lives and goings on and that things wouldn't change that much. Oh and that I would never give my kids a bath each and every night...that lasted all of a week after getting home from the hospital... See? There I go again!

Alright, I'm picking fun at myself some. I am actually pretty good at recognizing when I have a fault and working to correct it. It's taken me more time than I'd like to admit to have earned that trait, and I can definitely attribute it to my faith in God, but I feel confident I am on the way to perfecting it.

Last night I spent a fantastic evening out with a Mommy friend, Leslie, at a fabulous wine bar in Mountain Brook. We sat and sipped wine and talked, about everything, for nearly 5 hours (ok, those of you that know me well can stop - I was NOT the only one talking:)) But it was the most fantastic 5 hours I have spent in a long time that didn't involve my husband or kids and I needed the chick time! Leslie and I "see" each other nearly every day when we drop our kids at daycare, but we rarely get the chance for more than a 5 minute coversation. When we do, we are both amazed at how similar yet different our lives are, but how we come to the same conclusions regardless.

It's after last night that I realized it's this Sarah that I'd been missing. Not that I need a night out with wine and women to find her, but it gave me a span of time when I didn't need to have my mind wrapped around 15 different things going on at once. I could simply enjoy the taste of the South African pinotage, the sound of the acoustic guitar, the flickering of the candles and concentrate 100% on the conversation in front of me (without ears pricked up for the backround noise).

I had a similar experience back in the fall when I took a one day (not even an overnight) business trip to Pittsburgh to call on Dick's Sporting Goods. It had been over a year since the last time I had been on a flight without a child in my arms - and nearly 3 years since I'd flown without being pregnant (remember, I only had 5 months of that status between January 2006 and November 2007!) And it wasn't so much that I missed all the travel, but I realized I still had that hungry, go get 'em, Sheela, business woman within me that could command a meeting and sound intelligent and respected for my insight on the subject at hand.

Now, I'm not ditching my kids and getting on the road, or starting some monthly or weekly "women only" outings. I love my boys and just like everyone that has kids, I love talking about them and sharing their exciting moments. But I feel pretty sure I'm going to try and make a conscious effort to do a little more blogging on life in general, thoughts wandering in my head, snippets of what I find interesting and insightful, instead of a constant report on what the kids are doing, eating and saying.

So those of you that love the kid updates, they'll still be here, there just might be a little more fodder as well.