When I lived in Canada, I would have given anything to live somewhere beautiful, warm and sunny with very little care in the world. Taadaa, we moved to Montenegro.
Work ebbed and flowed, I had a full-time nanny/housekeeper and many days were spent enjoying the beach, good food/drink and great friends. We flew home to family twice a year and lived a comfortable life.
Then I would have given anything to be in a more stable country, in a mouldfree apartment, in a city with a nonstop water and power supply and to be surrounded by more "civilized people". We moved to Sweden.
Here I sit in Sweden. The power hasn't been switched off since we moved here (because I guess noone owes money to Croatia), the water isn't rationed during the summer (because I guess noone owes money to Croatia) and heaven forbid anyone gets sick, we have one of the best healthcare systems in the world at our disposal. We work constantly, the weather for the most part sucks, we miss our extended family deeply and we wonder everyday if we're doing the right thing.
Now I would give anything in the world (or almost anything) for:
- either one of my child's three Grandmothers (or his former nanny) to be sitting on the couch with him reading "I was so Mad" by Mercer Mayer.
- a drink at a fancy restaurant with my hubby. Make that a Caesar waiter!
- a 3 minute stroll down to clean Adriatic waters with my son.
- the sight of my Dad taking my son into the woods behind my childhood home in search of wildlife.
- a cup of coffee with my mother-in-law
- a fit of giggles with my best friend
- my son to know and adore his aunts and uncles
and let's add...
- a stress-free life
- a cure for cancer
- an end to world hunger
Why is it that in the words of Mick Jagger, "I can't get no satisfaction?" Why are we always hungering for what we don't have? And then when we get it, we want more, or worse, we want back what we had before? I don't know the answers to these questions. But I would rather not have to ask them at all.
5 comments:
this is pretty good though that you 've realized it. so you could work on it. it's just amazes me how quite a lot of people go down the same path that others have gone , while the path goes to nowhere. like the other day i was talking to a friend of mine, she was saying she wanna get of of those houses(they call villa) and ...i told her then she'll need to work harder to afford the life costes since the nicer hood is the higher life costs are. although she got my point still she's gonna do it. just wonderful ;)
me though never think of the past or future(much) so have nothing to miss or be worried of. just now lol
Yes Michael, the whole "keeping up with the Joneses" and constant pursuit of materialism, the "living to work" mentality plagues most of us, doesn't it?
exactly, to confirm you: there might be two people in a same city, even having the same career while one thinks of life as a hurricane and another just enjoys it (it could be coz he/she hasn't had same experiences as the other one or just doesn't look at the dark side). that's it "mentality"
This is so true, Jenn.
I never thought I would look longingly on southern England for its *climate*...then I moved to Toronto for nine years.
Perhaps the answer lies in that other masterpiece of Rolling Stones philosophy: "You can't always get what you want/but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need"
Way to go J.E.! I need to look at the greatest Rock Band of All Time for more of these life guiding tidbits. I'll be back with a good one.
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