'I wanted to change the world, but I couldn't find a babysitter'

I've just got back from my first work trip - in Bordeaux! Unfortunately, I can't really speak French! Learning French was at the top of my 'to-do-list' a few years ago...but I traded my time at French language evening classes for night-nursing!


It got me thinking about the sacrifices I am making for the sake of our family... not having time to learn French (at the moment) is very minor really. I felt really lucky this week, blessed in fact, that the job I have at the moment will give me the (odd) opportunities to travel abroad. Ultimately though, I would LOVE to have the kind of job that allows me to spend longer stretches of time, exploring the world and it's people, the cultures, the food - the weather!


For now though, I have a young family - so 'galavanting', as my Mum calls it, is kind of out of the question - and I'm OK with that. I believe that families need stability...not mundaneness (is that a word?!), not perfection, not a white picket fence, but having a sense of knowing where you're at, what you'd like to happen next, and the faith to deal with things if they don't go according to plan. I don't really know how to articulate it better than that...but I know what I mean...


So for the next 18+ years, stability is our goal. Some of the happiest people I know are 'stable' - emotionally, financially, socially, professionally - they're stable. They have the capacity to cope when God throws them a curve-ball!


In the beautiful home of a woman who I would describe as VERY stable, I saw a framed quote:


'I wanted to change the world, but I couldn't find a babysitter'


To me, this woman is very well accomplished, has a doting husband, has four high-achieving (grown up) kids, has written books, has travelled the world over and owns homes in multiple countries. I wondered what more she would want to do! She is happy, she is stable...and I actually was intrigued that at some point in the past, she had felt that she wanted to change the world but she couldn't because she couldn't find a babysitter! Even more than that, I loved that this woman HAD gone on to change the world. How amazing!


Simply, I loved it... I related to it and it meant something. 


I could relate because, my to-do-list still has things on it - there's more I want to achieve, more to see, more to do, more to taste...more to experience...and I like that. How sad it must be to have nothing on your to-do-list... I always want to do more, to learn more, to be more... But for now, a lot of things on my 'original'  to-do-list have been replaced with other things...I have new priorities and actually I prefer many of these new priorities. 


I wonder what other people have on their to-do-list - has it changed from being single to married, childless to mother, young adult to fully-pledged member?!


Mrs O
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