Pre-ZagZig Parenting: This is us
The 2016 holiday movie La La Land has received numerous awards and accolades this season; the movie’s end is a happy or sad—depending on your view point—look at a dream or what could have been. While I won’t spoil it for those of you who have not yet seen the movie musical, it is intriguing to think about how a change in one reaction—a shoulder touch or a snub—might adjust the trajectory of a relationship or impact a dream.
At this point, for me, however, I have known my husband since we were sixteen years old—suffice it to say, a long time ago. After multiple moves and four kids, who are now teens and young adults, my definition of “la-la land” is that next phase of life when the kids all succeed on their own, and we remember why we liked each other in the fist place.
MIKE: I am Kori’s husband, and true to form in our book, my job is to interject a balanced perspective when my wife tells one of her stories about our family. When she first started with the La La Land reference, which I did see with her on “lady’s choice” date night, I was concerned she would share her view of “what could have been.” I’m glad she’s in the camp that we still like each other.
Life’s journey is rarely a straight line based on your vision at a young age. If it was, I mean, I would be a mom of four children, working outside the home, and married to a man who is the primary caregiver to our children. Okay, that did not change; however, there were always unanticipated bumps in the road or opportunities that made us zigzag, like most couples. In our case, however, for twenty years, we did the zagzig, as we faced family life outside of the traditionally defined gender roles.
MIKE: Okay, I might have told her at age sixteen that I would stay home with the kids, thinking that would be a sweet gig. It was not my straight line vision at a young age, and I definitely zagged and zigged as we figured things out. But, looking back now over the past twenty years, I would not have changed a thing—well, maybe my favorite team the MSU Spartans winning a few more games.
ZagZig Parenting is our contemporary perspective on parenting, from a career-driven mom with commentary from Mike, the at-home dad who has been the primary caregiver for more than twenty years to our four children. We are not alone, and certainly don’t claim to know it—or anything… at all. We do invite you to laugh with us at our chaos, because, let’s face it, parenting issues don’t discriminate. We are not alone in the parenting journey.
