Changin' it up

Ever WANTED sooo much that it makes you NEED waaaaayy less?

I really WANT to travel. With My children. EH-ver- eee where. Okay, maybe not to Alcatraz. But when my 2 1/2 year old  pointed to a picture in his bedtime story tonight, and asked me when we could go to that cool(hot) "sandy place with all the camels", I told him yeah, I'd heard Namibia was amazing, and I did hope he had an adventure there one day. He's probably expecting it to happen sometime, oh, next week, but......

I really WANT to owe zero dollars. Not because some generous amazing person provided everything for me, but because I worked my wasabi pistachio off (doing something that gives back)  and lived consciously within my means. Because I lived huge and owned little. Because I reused, revived,  and re-energized what I had, and passed on the rest. Because I rebelled against status thru belongings and namedropping, but saw the well meaning in those still caught in that trap. It's just a trap, that's all. We are no better or yin yangin' worse than each other, let's face the samba music. I really adore Samba music, but I don't want to get ulcer's figuring out how to pay for high octane, super sized, stainless steel model samba music.And especially not just because all the other good samba music lovers(hee hee) have it, by jobe!)

 I really WANT to be with my kids more. Like, soooo much Orangatang in' more.The more we are just together and feel each other's ebbs and flows and ridiculously cool weirdness, the easier we are on each other, and that waterfall of happiness rushes thru with fierce sweetness. Besides, I feel volcanoes of frustration erupting over the social torture chamber girls can ram each other thru in elementary school, and it is like an eight hour session under the dentist drill watching my nearly nine year old dodge queen bee bullets just to get thru a day without having her whole sense of being anialated by that other girl three desks over. I feel as if the only way for me to help her is to continue building her sense of self worth, thus being there for while giving her the space she needs is a gynormous part of that , no? I'm hardly there for her working 12 hour nightshifts and sucking back caffeine 24/7 trying to fend of some serious fatigue the rest of the apple fritter time!

My WANTS go on and on

My NEEDS, however, seem to be staring to dwindle.

I don't NEED brand new deck furniture, or an expresso machine, and if I can buy it in fair shape from the thrift store, then I'd rather donate money to the food bank with the extra moolah, NOT buy it brand new. I don't care if the neighbors have a cooler trampoline, or SUV(and they soooo do, hee hee) or if the BBQ they have goes better with their lawn ornaments. I don't NEED gold or diamonds.....keep it!(but I am weak when it comes to sterling silver and lapis!) and I don't NEED a phone that can make my breakfast for me and walk my dog for me (in 17 different languages,no doubt.)

I do WANT to complete at least three triathlons in the next five years.

I  do WANT to learn how to play the piano and the guitar(with my kids)and to ski (with my husband)

I do WANT to try kite boarding and Aikido

I do WANT to take some jazz /  hip hop dance classes

I do WANT most of my organic produce to come out of my own garden next year, with a good portion of that being herbs for my own tinctures(we're definitely NOT talking Kootenay greenhouse here people... I don't smoke ANYTHING!!!)

I do WANT to write kids books, even if just for my own rambunctious 3

And last, but absolutely not least :

I really really really DO  WANT to spend at least eight hours every holiday season volunteering, with my kids, at a soup kitchen,seniors centre or food bank(starting this Christmas) so that we remember that no matter what our wealth in paper, we are all one, and we NEED each other, whether we WANT to embrace it or not.