Today’s prompt:

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

5 Years: In 5 years, my baby will be 6 years old and Amelie will be 13. That will be a whole new phase of parenting. I see myself going on a weekly date with Bryce, for one thing! We know it’s important to have that time for just the two of us, but it’s really hard to find (and pay!) for a sitter for 4 children every week, so it doesn’t happen as much as we’d like. When Amelie is 13, she can babysit! Things will be quite different in 5 years. No little monkey toddling around, asking for hugs and kisses all day. I will miss that dearly. On the other hand, it will be easier for me to run errands and attend to my doula work. I see myself working with my doula clients, helping my kids with school work, and doing fun things as a family like camping and fishing.

10 Years: Let’s see, 10 years from now, I will be turning 40. Amelie will be 18 and already graduated from high school. Liam will almost be a deacon. Wow. I’m hoping that this phase of my life includes lots of traveling with Bryce. That is something we would both love to do. I’ll still be very involved in kids’ school work and other activities and somehow I’ll have to come to grips with the fact that my Amelie might not be living at home anymore. It’ll be interesting to see where my birth work has taken me at this point. More doula work? Or maybe I’ll be teaching childbirth classes, too?

15 Years: It’s actually hard to think this far ahead. Amelie will be 23 and Liam will be 16. I hope that at this point in my life, I am enjoying my beautiful children and the adults that they are becoming. I hope that we have fun together as a family and support each other in all our different activities. I see myself happy at 45, watching my children blossom and working on my own gifts and talents.