Love Picks Up Where the Money Ends

(** I wrote this original Blog post on another blog I had back in June of 2011. I'm reposting it here and updating the number of kids we have as it is still applicable! Please bare with me as I transfer several old blogs over)

On occasion when we lay down for bed after a long tiring day, as exhausted as we are, we engage in a little pillow talk. Our pillow talk always involves some level of teasing each other about one thing or another.  It was like that 11 years ago when we first married and you guessed it, t's still like that.  

And all I did was ask for a goodnight kiss...and the teasing started.

I was told I must be guilty of something due to the tone in my voice and my request for a kiss was denied with the notion that there would be "no guilt kissing" going on that evening.

I knew what my husband was talking about. That feeling you have when you've done something you shouldn't have and you seek for affection from your spouse in hopes that they will overlook what you've done! Yep, I know that feeling.

But in this case, I really couldn't think of anything I was guilty of. So I made him expand.

Well, he couldn't think of anything I was guilty of either . But of course he had to come up with something and he had to think quick!

His response was that I was guilty of being "too expensive".

Well, there you go. I had to agree on this one. He is right. I am too expensive. So I let him know that I was 100% guilty of that and so he should probably just fire me and let me go.

And well, after thinking about it for a few minutes he decided I would cost him more money and I'd be more expensive if he let me know.

Of course he was just kidding! But he has a valid point.

It is not just me anymore. I come along with 4 kids. And I cost a lot when it's me and four little kids!

I was much less expensive when we both worked and both brought home a salary and we had not kids to spend our money on. It was just us and we had TWO incomes!

Those honestly were some good years!

And I cannot lie. I am so grateful we have those years to fall back on when the going gets tough. Because let me tell you, it is hard sometimes. Well, I'm sure you know it. If you have a family and are down to one income and have added dependents. The way you were once used to living is gone and no more. It is hard to be responsible for little mouths to feed and bodies to clothe. College funds to save for, sports, extracurricular activities', and oh goodness, if you take them to a the theater to watch a play it'll cost you!  Or just going to the movies! Not to mention school costs, a house big enough to fit these little people, a car big enough and all those dang car seats! ...and really, it is endless.

Even if you are a two income family, just adding the stress of these other little people to the outcome of that income is no joke.

I'm certain you are also guilty of being "too expensive"! All of you! Just like me!

It may be a long, long, long time from now before we can spend any money on oureslves again.  And maybe that day may never come. So I thank God that we have that time to fall back on when things get stressful. We have those fun memories of going out to eat without a care in the world. Heading to the mall to buy a pair of shoes not because we needed them but because we wanted them. We had money to buy nice furniture for our swanky Nashville condo and a new grill! I'm telling you those were good years.   

Some nights we lay in bed and have our little pillow talk and it's just us reminiscing about how we used to be before we had kids. Those were good days.

But our kids are awesome and we would never trade our kids to go back there.
 
It's just a good thing we have enough love in our house every day to pick up where the money ends.

And I'll tell you something. That love is so much richer than any of the money we ever had or ever will have.