The Pursuit of Stuff

   I don't believe in 'keeping up with the Jones'.  For a long time I despised the Jones. The pursuit of "stuff" seemed superficial and left me running in the opposite direction. That doesn't mean I don't like or didn't want nice things. It means our priority was elsewhere.
   When our children were young, we put our time and resources into them and 'made do' with what we had.  Every piece of furniture and every appliance in our home had come to us from someone else's home (except for the bunk beds I made with my own hands). We performed all our own maintenance and repairs even though we weren't necessarily handy. We installed our own fence, built our own shed, built our deck, etc. Those were opportunities for us to learn something new. I became the family barber/hairstylist, and I have prepared our taxes every year without fail. It was hard work and there were times I wished life were easier.
    I look back on the early years of raising children and realize how much we sacrificed to give the boys opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise had. We wanted them to feel the importance of family. It didn't seem like a sacrifice then because we were on a mission to raise strong, intelligent, competent, and confidant young men.
    I couldn't be more proud of them today. They have made their own opportunities and they are just as practical and resourceful as we were back then.
     A year and a half ago we purchased a new house that we had built. We bought all new furniture and appliances.  We chose an open floor plan in our area even though it cost a little more. We put in quartz counter tops, tile floors, a gas fireplace, etc., extravagances we wouldn't have considered years ago. For some of our recent projects; fencing the backyard, adding a larger patio, we hired/are hiring contractors to do the work.
     I began to worry that we were becoming the people I despised those many years ago, until I realized that we could give it all up in a heartbeat for something important. There isn't anyone to whom we need to show them. We're excited about these extras that we would have forgone when our kids were young. It's not that we have bundles of cash laying around or that we feel we NEED any one of them.  But each one is a gift we feel blessed to be able to give ourselves. It's affirmation that patience, hard work and prioritizing bring rewards.