Secret Subject Swap - Independence

Welcome to July's Secret Subject Swap. Again 13 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  

Sit back, grab a cup and check them all out:



Baking In A Tornado
Cognitive Script
The Blogging 911 
The Lieber Family
My subject is 
             
What have you recently gained independence from?


It was submitted by Not that Sarah Michelle thank you, Sarah!

Whoa, independence, huh? Just like with freedom I think that somebody's independence is limited, because let's be honest, unless you grow your own food (and even if you do, you still depend on weather conditions, soil quality and the absence of vermin) produce your own energy and source your water from a nearby wellspring, etc. etc. so unless you manage to do all that and more, you'll always depend on other people doing their job, providing you with whatever it is that you need.

By all means there are the little independences and little freedoms in daily life, and those are the ones I am going to talk about today.

With Colin turning nine years old in a couple of weeks, I can say that I keep getting good chunks of independence in terms of personal time and freedom:

Of course I have to plan and work around our schedules: work, school, hockey, dentist's / hairdresser's appointments and other activities, but once he's there, I'm good: 

Starting this January, every Monday and Thursday morning I have been hitting the gym.

Working for my husband allows me to leave work early to drive Colin to his hockey practice.

While he's training Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday late afternoons, I have dinner on a park bench (or in my car): I bring homemade, healthy food because otherwise the temptation to turn to the cheesecakes and the cinnamon rolls of this world would be too great. 



Then I grocery shop. I have to bring a cooling bag to make sure my chicken and yogurt survive temps in the mid-90s during our +/- one hour's drive home. 

Time permitting I also blog at Starbucks. Hence the cheesecake and the cinnamon roll imminence. I got myself a light 12" MacBook that fits in my purse, and when I am out of wifi range (think parking lot) I write offline and paste it later. I'm a serious case of internet addict.




On our way home, Colin eats in the car, so it's mostly sandwiches, cherry tomatoes and apple slices.

By the way I thought we were living off our car:




School and school gym bag after picking him up at daycare. Hockey gym backpack for practice, my notebook case (plus a spare purse that was there from the previous day), overnight backpack and wrapped gift for birthday sleepover at his best friend's after practice. My cooling bag I mentioned above isn't even in that picture!

Have a look at this family! This cracked me up so much. Dad and his two sons pulled into the parking lot, Dad let them hop out, and one boy feverishly rummaged the trunk for their gym gear:




When we get home Colin needs to unpack his gym stuff, hang or lay it out to dry and de-smell. I'm so proud of myself that I introduced this chore in summer, imagine I won't have to do it in winter when the items triple or quadruple and get smellier!!!



Wearing white pants! Does wearing white pants make me (feel) independent? They kind of do. As a new Mom I couldn't fit into them, then I had a toddler which doesn't go well together with white pants. I forgot about them, they disappeared in the back of my closet in favor of baggy jeans - because cheesecake. Well, as you may know I recently celebrated hitting my weight goal. I did so wearing my white pants and enjoying cheesecake, hahaha!

I wish I could say I gained independence to take another me-time trip to the West Coast, but hey, let's not get carried away!

Instead something happened, and I'm worried. I may have jeopardized my independence, and It's totally my own fault. 

Police sent me letter telling me I drove 18km/h  (11 mph) too fast, and due to the magnitude of this offense they're not sending me a simple ticket but will press charges with the DA. 

Geez! I remember the time and location they indicated. No way I could have been going so fast? They claim they have photo proof. I hope I look nice in that picture cause in any case it's going to be an expensive one. 

I asked around. Some say it's going to be a hefty fine plus it will appear on my record, others say my license is at risk of being suspended because it was near a school area. I don't remember there were any kids around. I always drive extra carefully with children around! I am not a speedster! 

I had to send in my personal data (as if they didn't have access to everything. How else were they able to figure out my address?), and now I get to wait for a registered letter. And I worry. I can't lose my license!!! How else is Colin supposed to get to practice? Plus, as soon as summer break is over, the ice season begins, meaning more practise, and matches and tournaments all over Switzerland pretty much every weekend until March 2018.


So please, keep your fingers crossed that I'll get away with making a generous donation towards our county's PD's piggy bank!

How about you? Did you gain independence from anything? How did you achieve it? Leave me your comment down below and please go and check out the other blogger's posts!

Happy weekend!

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