Between = In the meantime

When I think of the word between, it evokes transition to me - like when someone says, we're between sitters right now, or I'm between sizes, or all too often in these economic times, he's in between jobs. Transition, in the meantime, or meanwhile - they're all words I use a lot these days. Actually I think it's an excellent description of The Tripped Up Family. We're in transition in so many places, sometimes it's hard to keep count of all of them.

Sometimes the sands pass slowly

Now that Tripped Up Daddy has officially graduated, we're in a between space for him. He's looking for work, working part-time from home and watching after the triplets - which will all change, we hope, once he obtains a new job in his field. He lives now in the meantime.

I'm in my own between space with my career. I'm blogging as I can pull time away from other responsibilities. I contract full-time as a writer in an eCommerce department of a local company. I expect that will continue as a long-term assignment, but don't know how a new job (as yet unknown) for Tripped Up Daddy may affect my activities. I contemplate going back to school for an advanced degree - for what, I'm not sure or exactly how that may change my career path. I live now in the meantime.

As a child of divorce and a blended family, our teen Lotte also lives in a between space of her own. She travels between her father's house and our house regularly. As an only child in one home and the oldest of 4 in the other, she bounces between lifestyles often. She's starting to think about career choices and colleges and requirements and applications. In her own estimation, life really doesn't begin until you can drive and date, both of which aren't allowed until she's 16. She lives now in the meantime.

Our triplets are all moving forward on their milestones, some quicker than others, but they are slowly beginning to catch up. Still, there are activities that are tough to do right now because of their developmental stage (think potty training for Angel and Princess). They are roaming the house much more freely now, and that has led to both joy and frustration as they learn what's appropriate and what's not (climbing into booster seat on her own - good, climbing onto counter to pull knife out of butcher block - not a good plan). Someday our 3 busy toddlers will be really good at following directions, but we're not there yet. They live now in the meantime.

I don't know how long each of these meantime situations will last, but I know they won't last forever. I hope I can live in the present enough to learn every valuable aspect I should while we live in the meantime.