Chasing the "American Dream"

The first five years we were married we had not had any children yet.  I am having a little difficulty in remembering those years. Maybe because today when anyone ask me when events happened in my life I remember back to the birth dates of our children. I have had 13 pregnancies and of those 13, 7 children and 6 miscarriages and yes all with the same person. Some people have asked me if all our children are from the same father. That says a lot about our society. I need to stop because I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to life before children. Before children we had a dog. Isn't that what every newly married couple does. We had a Lab and his name was Buster-runski. My husband named him. He also gave me a pet nickname (no pun intended). I had two names during those years. One was BongoBabyButt and the other was Feets which has lasted longer. But Today I'm Chickee.
Our goal back then was to achieve the "American Dream". And we were moving pretty good along that tract. Our hopes and dreams were to buy a house, a car, furnish the house, take vacations once a year, enjoy our hobbies and go to church. That is me sitting on the roof of what would soon be our first new home.  In order to make those dreams come true we needed to have good jobs which I thought we did. Guy was a firefighter and he was advancing his career by going to paramedic school. I also was working and thought I had a pretty good job as one of the Seven Dwarfs at Disney World. But my career as a dwarf was short lived (I'm on a roll right now). Again no pun intended. One day when I was on the float and tied to a poll so I wouldn't fall off I got so hot and needed air. The last thing I remember is yelling "Help Me Snow White". See how good I stayed in character. Then I thought to myself, This can't be good when the only person that can help me is  Snow White. But the music was so loud and she was busy dancing around the dwarfs to hear my cries for help. Then I must have passed out inside the costume but the pole was holding me up so no one knew until the end of the parade when they pulled Doc's head off. After arriving at the hospital by ambulance I knew my Dwarf days were over. My next job at Disney World was waitressing at the Diamond Horseshoe. Less pay which I didn't think was possible but great tips made it worth it. And then a couple of years later I moved to the Parking Lot.  I enjoyed every area I ever worked in at Disney World. FUN JOB!! Guy also loved his job with the fire department. Being a fireman is more than a job. It was family!!!!
My "American Dream" has changed a bit over the years. Life has taught me about priorities. There is nothing wrong with wanting to take care of our families and enjoying the fruits of our labor as long as we keep it all in balance.

This photo says the "American Dream" is over. Maybe its time we get a "New Dream". What is Yours?

Sweet Dreams and "In Retrospect" we'll talk again soon.