Middle Aged Fantasies

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When one is young, the sky is the limit on fantasies.  Maybe you dreamed of being a rock star, a fighter pilot, or a bestselling author (I don't have enough musical talent for rock stardom, and my vision isn't good enough to fly, but I'm still working on the writing....)

Anyway, the point is, when we're young our fantasies are grand, sweeping affairs.  We're the best, the most attractive, the most compelling.  We can hardly get through dinner at a restaurant for all the autograph seekers.  Finances are never an issue, for in our minds we will go through life throwing money over our shoulders to take care of "that," whatever that may be, whether it's a new wardrobe or a villa in Italy.

Then reality sets in.  Your entry level job was not designed to lead anywhere.  Romances come and go, and your vision of who your significant other needs to be starts to shift.  You might go from needing "tall, dark and handsome" to "NOT a psycho who watches television all weekend."  Your body gradually starts to betray you, especially after having children; one day you look down and ask "Is that really cellulite????"

Fortunately, you're too busy to dwell on all this for long.  Yet every once in a while you might pause in between doing laundry and making your kid fill out his reading log, and fantasize.  Only this time the fantasies look a little different, more grounded.  They might look something like this:

• Your older kid, the absent-minded one, actually brings his lunch bag and his jacket home on the same day.
• When you open your social security statement it doesn't say "according to our estimates, you're screwed."
• The dirty clothes all magically land in the hamper instead of composting in random locations through the house.
• When you begin a sentence with "My goal for today is..." your family doesn't look at you in confusion and say "Michael?  Who is Michael?"
• Your child actually does his entire school project by himself, no nagging involved (this happened once, and it was GLORIOUS).
• Your husband stops feeling a certain urge... for collecting.  We have collections of Star Wars ships, dead things we found on the farm (finally made my guys move that collection off the kitchen hutch), old bottles, and hundreds of Lego sets and toys.  

Still and all, I have to say we have it pretty good.  These are the only things I would change about our life together, so truly, I am blessed!