Just in case you parents out there haven’t noticed, raising children takes a lot of time and money. (Yes, insights like that are why I get paid the big bucks for writing a blog.)

In theory, when our middle daughter goes away to college in the fall and we have two out of our three kids out of the house, the kid-associated demands on our time should be reduced by another third. You know the kind of demands I’m talking about, the ones that determine the weekend agenda. There are shopping trips to Target, church and sports events to attend, and chauffeuring to friends’ houses or the movies.

However when it comes to money, with two kids in college, it will be quite some time before we don’t feel the impact of our children on our bank accounts.

But back to my point, which is about Steve and me focusing less on the kids…in a couple of months there’s only going to be one of them at home…and us having more time to spend with each other. We don’t want to be the kind of couple that looks at each other once the kids are out of the house and has to reintroduce themselves to each other.

And truthfully, I can’t just blame the kids for taking priority over spending time with my husband. For me, there’s always another load of laundry to do, more weeds to be pulled, and plenty of bills to angst over. And even writing a blog can take up time on a Sunday that could otherwise be spent with Steve.

So with that in mind, I’m going to abbreviate my blog this week so Steve and I can have a date enjoying the beautiful summer weather and window-shopping in Petaluma guilt-free that I should really be home finishing up my blog. The laundry, weeds and bills will all still be there on Monday but for now, I’m going to appreciate the gift of time together.