When I get rich, I’ma still act broke

~Jelly Roll

Today is May first. It’s MAY! The weather is appropriately hot and humid. I made up a whole bunch of May baskets, last night, for the littles to fill up today.

This morning, we went outside to pick some “flowers”. They found dandions and various pretty weeds and wildflowers, to add to our May baskets. We sorted candies into each of the baskets, and loaded them into the wagon. We walked around our neighborhood, and left one on our neighbor’s doorsteps. They littles loved it.

I always did this with my babies, when they were little. I hadn’t done it, for a few years now. It’s funny though, because all the same things I loved to do before, I continue to enjoy. Regardless of our bank account balance, credit scores, or the clothes we wear while we’re making memories, it’s always about the experiences. Some of my favorite memories are from a time when we lived in a house that was too small, with a bank balance that was too low. That isn’t at all what I remember, when I think back, though. It’s the smiles on sweet babies faces, while we’re busy making these memories, that are so precious to me. Youth cannot be bought. I can’t redo my own children’s childhoods. I can’t magically look like I did when I was 22 years old. As I was living those days, my mind was too consumed with worries about the future. What I should’ve spent more time enjoying, are the things I’ll never get back. My own babies aren’t babies, anymore. “Rich” isn’t about money at all. Rich is looking and feeling your best, while you’re giving your beautiful children what seems like such a small and simple thing, like making May baskets. Because, one day, so much faster than you realize, those days are just memories that only live on in your mind.

I do this all the time, where I look at my own babies, and think they’re so grown now! A year or two goes by, and an old picture pops up. I look at it and recognize just how young they really were still. I aim to soak all of it in. I desperately want to make as much as I can of every moment I get to spend with them.

Yesterday, Jackie came by. Her, Mj, and I went to do a little shopping. It was a lot of fun!

Yesterday evening, we all sat out on our deck. Adam, Justin, Jackie, and I. We just talked and laughed and told stories, for awhile. It was a lot of fun, too.

I’m fixing to go hang out with my babies, for awhile, before I need to start supper. My house is clean. The sun is shining. Everybody’s healthy. This is exactly what rich is.