Life with Kids and Traveling with them too!

What do you do when you live in the desert and it’s a 100+ degrees outside?  Chances are you spend a lot of time in the pool, if you are fortunate to have one.  Yes, I said “fortunate”.  Us “desert folk” are so accustomed to having pools, that it is only until we converse with people who don’t live in the desert that we realize a pool is a “luxury” not everybody has.  The past 3 days our desert has reached the 100’s in temperature.  A gentle reminder to us that our beautiful weather is passing us by and the heat will soon be here.  Like many, we have spent the past 3 days swimming and playing in the pool, followed by long naps afterwards.  Ahhh…what a life, huh?  It’s easy to lose one’s sense of humbleness when you live in an area like Palm Springs.  It’s a very black and white society between the “Have’s” and the “Have Nots”.  So much energy is spent on what we wish we had and what we don’t have, rather than focusing and being thankful for what we do!  My husband and I come from very humble beginnings.  We know the hard work it takes to create a dollar and we are probably what some would call “frugal” at times.  As I was cleaning out old files recently, I came across an old bank statement from 1995.  We had exactly $145.22 in our bank account.  I glanced through our check register and saw that at times, we would be down to $20.  We would probably have been considered “poor”, I’m sure.  Yet, we never knew it. We didn’t have a pool, we didn’t have a house.  In fact, we lived in a litte one bedroom apartment (now called a studio) in Texas….and we were happy.  If you were to ask me then if I would ever have my own swimming pool, I probably would have replied with, “People actually have their own?”  Now I look around and see all this “stuff” we have accumulated and wonder how it will affect my children.  We do our best to teach them that it is better to give than to receive, but let’s face it….kids have it really good these days.  I have to wonder how good of a job we are really doing, especially when my daughter asks when is the next time we are going to Disneyland.  I, like many, want to provide for my children and give them a better life than I had.  In doing so, I have to wonder if I am doing more bad than good.  I am very sensible when it comes to money and I don’t live beyond my means.  But I don’t think these are attributes I was born with.  They are attributes I acquired through my experience as a child.  So, I definitely wonder, what types of attributes my children will learn through their experience.  I can only hope and try.  I’ve heard the best teacher leads through example, so that is what we are trying to do.  As we splashed around in the pool today, I took the time and as a gentle reminder said to everyone, “Geez, having a pool is so much fun.  We sure are lucky to have one, because not everyone does.”  My daughter than said, “Mommy, we should invite all the people that don’t have one to swim in our pool!”  And with that, I suddenly felt at ease.   The future looks bright…….and humble……