Acceptance

Last night we decided to try going to the Utah Lake festival today. It was rumored to have activities, free fishing, lots of booths, free hot dogs and popcorn, and a variety of other fun things. I’ll be honest, I love booths, whether they’re fresh produce at the farmer’s market or employers at a career fair. Weird, right?

After June woke up from her morning nap (yes, my blessed 19-month-old still takes two naps, probably to make up for Evan dropping all naps at 18 months), we drove out to the lake. The real problem was that I somehow expected the day would operate smoothly, in a way that was fun for ME. Oh, silly. What about kids?

I realized after a while that I can’t approach things the same way as I did before kids. I can’t think of a trip to a festival or fair or farmer’s market as something enjoyable just for me, at least not enjoyable for the same reasons. I spent today being exhaustively frustrated and upset because I had to chase June around – she’s too young for most of the activities they had, and was mainly interested in her usual run-as-fast-and-far-and-tiringly-as-possible routine. Evan and Jarom were having a great time fishing, and I rudely cut their time short since I was at the end of my rope with June.

Having gone with the expectation that I’d be chasing a toddler in the middle of a hot day, worryingly close to the water, would have made the trip a lot better. By next time we have an outing like this, I probably will have forgotten this insight. Or maybe I can just go without kids!