Take Me To Your Leader

We moved to this part of the country a little over a year ago. We consider ourselves to be a regular, middle class family. We decided that I would stay home after the birth of our second child. We cannot travel and do the things we would like at this time, but it is a sacrifice that is well worth it to our family.

Let me just say that the town we are living in is decidedly NOT middle class. We have more than our fair share of "family businesses," which means lots of the dads work out of their multi-million dollar homes running their multi-million dollar corporations. It has been quite a culture shock for us, and has made for interesting people watching at the grocery store.

Recently, my husband accompanied me and the children to a toddler birthday party. They are a very nice family, far less pretentious than many of the moms I have come across at playgroups. We had a nice time, and an interesting conversation on the way home. Apparently, dear hubbie was standing in the kitchen and a group of people were talking about their upcoming ski trips to Utah before the season was over. As they outlined their trip, my husband turned tail when they mentioned the chartering of their private aircraft to take them to their destination.

What fucking planet am I on? Who lives like this? Many of the people at this party, obviously. I just laughed when my husband told me this story at home. I told him now he knows what I go through at playgroups and mom's night out when I hear the ladies talking about these kinds of things. My husband and I are very happy and secure in our relationship and status in this world. We have what we need and love what we have. This has thankfully given us a great sense of humor about these types of things. It just boggles my mind that there are people who find this to be a normal type of existence. This is not the reality of my family, and I worry about the effects of this type of mentality on my children should we stay in this area for a while. People already complain about the material nature of our society. How does one go about raising children to appreciate what you provide them when they see such excess?