FREE

Leave it to a country song to get me thinking and make me feel mushy. It wasn't a song about a dog or a farmer or anything like that. I was driving home today from picking up Kayla at preschool and a song I believe called, "You're gonna miss this" came on one of the country radio stations. Yes, I love country music. So anyway, I hadn't heard this song and I started listening to the words.

It started out with a high school girl complaining about school and wishing she was 18 and couldn't wait for her life to start. Her mother tells her, "You're gonna miss this". I started thinking about high school. It was so much fun. I was a cheerleader, I hung out with the "in" crowd, I played softball and was really good, I got good grades, went to all the football and basketball games, Homecoming and Prom, bon fires, boyfriends. It was great. I was so FREE.

The second verse talked about the girl being a young bride. Her dad came over to visit her small, one bedroom apartment and he tells her it's a nice place. She says it'll do for now and starts talking about a bigger house and babies, etc. Her dad says, "You're gonna miss this". I reflected back to My and Kevin's first apartment in Kennewick. It was actually pretty nice. We ate a lot of hamburger helper and laughed a lot. Our dining room table was a card table and two lawn chairs. We had mismatched furniture that we bought at yard sales. There wasn't a lot of money, but we had each other. We would just decide on a Saturday morning to drive to Coure D'Alene and we would. Little road trips together on the weekends were so much fun, we were so FREE.

The last verse, if I remember right, talked about her water heater being broken and a repair man, I think, coming over to fix it. Kids were crying and fighting and the everydays of life were around her. She apologizes to the man for her kids and he tells her that they aren't bothering him at all. He has two children of his own that are grown up and gone now, "You're gonna miss this". (This is were I admittedly ALMOST started crying. I got that lump in my throat. You know what I mean, right.) I started thinking about now. Today. My home, my husband, my three kids, my church, My life. It's so great. We are always busy. Baseball and gymnastics. School and church callings. My house is sometimes clean. We order pizza. We laugh. We go to church as a family with no argument. We play games, we are so FREE. I miss the right now already and it's not even gone yet. I am truly happy and blessed to be able to recognize all the wonderful things I have right now. I am happy to live in the now and in no hurry to start another chapter (or verse) of my life.

Darn that country music!