Mike and I were talking the other night about expectations. Some examples we brought up were:
Marriage - If you are a romantic, you may idealize marriage as this thing where people are so in love all the time. I guess you think it will always be like the beginning. Even if, or maybe especially if, you have lived together before marriage, you may think it will be more when you are married.
Having kids - Mike was the first one to say this exceeded his expectations BY FAR. He had always thought that having kids would be SO much work and you would lose the ability to do anything you want to do. While that is all true, he did not realize the reward you would get in exchange. He claims it was all worth it, ten times over. :)
Teaching (for me) - Right now, being a bit bored at home, I am currently romanticizing teaching. I am always thinking about how much I miss it and how much I liked my students. Of course I am never thinking about the days (many) where I came home saying I was so done with those flippin' kids and when was the next holiday?
So my question to you all is this: What has met or surpassed your expectations? Has anything been more difficult than expected?
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Haha... I guess I'm bad at expectations because it seems like everything is either harder/easier or more boring/fun than I expect.
I guess the most recent and most prominent "missed" expectation in my life is how difficult it would be to design an addition to our house. Granted, it's a pretty darn big addition, but I was just thinking the other day, I wish I had a count of the number of hours I have spent looking at, touching, internet researching, price comparing (rinse and repeat) tile! I'll admit, I'm a design snob so I've probably gone way over the time and sanity level that a normal person might have, but I have seriously probably spent around 100 hours just to settle on and purchase the perfect tile for our master bathroom. And that's just the tile! I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it, but it has definitely been more work than I ever imagined. I can't imagine the work that would go into designing and building a house from scratch... which is something that I still hope to do some day. :)
Wow...what a good question.
I think having children suprassed any expectation that I ever could have had.
I know that I romanticize being a SAHM mom because I don't have the ability to do that right now, but if you would have asked me before I had kids if I would have wanted to stay home, I would have said NO WAY!!!
I had all of these lofty career ambitions that flew out the window the first week I had Zachary. I knew what I was meant to do in life the first day I saw him.
I also always thought 2 children was more than enough but now that I have two, I want more. When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn I worried that I could never love another child as much as Zachary but that is SO not true. I think your heart just gets bigger and bigger the more kids you have.
Being a mom has blown my expectations out of the water! It is SOO much better than I could have ever imagined and believe me, I spent many, many years dreaming about it, so I had some pretty set pre-concieved notions at that point....
I still can't believe how much love I hold in my heart for my little guy. And I can definitely see how it make you want more children, like Christina said above!!!
Staying at home is not what I expected at all either - I honestly thought I may get bored (ha ha) but there is always something to do.
I have 3 areas, similar to Angelle, that have exceeded my expectations:
1.) Career - I really didn't know what I wanted to do when I got out of college. I thought that I would just end up with some typical corporate job. Now that I am teaching, it has really exceeded my expectations in fulfillment of a career. It definitely isn't about the money. I know that when I die, I will be happy with this career path that I have finally chosen.
In all the obstacles (full-time job, college, tuition, taking care of 2 boys) to get my teacher's license and Masters, I have surpassed my expectations in my ability to achieve this goal.
2.) My boys - In each stage of their lives, they have exceeded my expectations in what they have taught me. It isn't about the things you think about when you are young; the matching outfits, the materialistic things. They have taught me to love them for things I never imagined before I had them. Sam - he has taught me to enjoy every moment each day. I LOVE our conversations. Jack - he has taught me that you can be tough and sweet at the same time.
3.) My Husband - I never thought that he would really be my best friend. I don't have a lot of friends. But, he has always been there. He isn't the typical husband that takes you out on romantic dates and stuff. But, when I really need someone - he is ALWAYS there. In the end - that is what is most important in a marriage.
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