After one month off of work Kelly posted about the top 10 things that she’d learned.  I think most of them ring true for me too, but have a few others that I’ve personally experienced.

So, here are my top 10 lessons learned since leaving my corporate job and moving to an island.

1. I Love Jet Skis!!! – When my brother visited over Memorial Day weekend we both rented jet skis and played around in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the most fun I think any human can experience on the water (right Daniel Tosh?). Even more exciting was that I took Zoe with me for her first ride. Now she loves jet skis too.

2. The Great Outdoors – There is something about being outside the majority of the day and not behind a desk, in an airport, on a plane or god forbid a meeting room that is good for the soul.

3. My name is Travis and I too am a Cellphone Addict – I knew Kelly was an addict, but thought I was much better.  I’m not.  Email checking has been replaced with checking Facebook and the blog responses (thanks to all who are reading and commenting).

4. Days go by too fast (still) – When working there was never enough time in the day. Guess what? Still not enough time. Granted I get more sleep now and no longer outsource household chores, etc. It’s just that the days are filled with quality time with the family and I still can’t find time to do it all.  

5. We were being wasteful – We used to justify all sorts of ways to spend LOTS of money on food. Either by going to restaurants (“I just can’t handle cooking tonight”), Meez meals (“I’ll cook but just don’t want to prepare it”) and Sunset Foods (“they put the groceries on the belt, bag it and put in my car”). Now we buy store brand generics whenever possible (which are great from Publix by the way), we clip (digital) coupons, and rarely have we gone out to eat.

6. Maybe I’m Julia Child – Now that we aren’t being so wasteful I have really enjoyed cooking. Mostly grilling fresh seafood, chicken or utilizing all our friends great recipes. Can’t wait to keep learning new meals to create.

7. I’m Comfortably Numb – For you Pink Floyd fans – not that kind of comfortably numb. I’m talking about being so relaxed and laid back that I sometimes can’t put a sentence together. It is becoming the type of break that I wanted (and needed) to reset.

8. I actually enjoy reading – I have never been much of a reader. While in High School I tweaked the same book report 3 times to avoid having to read something new each year (Call of the Wild if you’re interested).  I have only finished one book thus far, but did it in one day. I read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams and I laughed out loud (thanks to Keith for the gift).  I’ve got a small stack lined up and plan to get through them all this summer.

9. Oh the things I would’ve missed – Zoe lost her first tooth last week. She was so brave as I helped her wiggle it free. It made me so proud. I then immediately thought, “If I was working, where would I have been?” It was a Tuesday. Best case I would have been in the office, but more likely I’d have been traveling, probably to the UK for another meeting. I love not missing these moments!

10. Parenting is a Job – …and that’s enough. Don’t get me wrong.  Our lives are much easier today compared to juggling dual careers, homeownership, and the kids. But, the kids still have their melt downs, freak outs and simply don’t always listen.

I still can’t fathom what else we will learn, but the good news is we still have many more Pink Days to find out.