Why oh why are the weekends so short and our weekdays so long? I long for the days when I was in college and I could just sleep in and not worry about getting up for anyone other than myself. However, I am now a two time mother and a wife (twice removed, because the divorce). My days are spent slaving away at my job and my nights and weekends are spent being a Mom to my two great kids and a wife to my husband. While I love each and every one of them, I sometimes wish for the days when I only had myself to think about and get ready. For just a glimpse this morning I had that life once again.
My children spend several days a week with their Dad, per our visitation agreement. However, of late our youngest child has been having issues at her Dad’s house because of her step-mother and has not been following the same visitation schedule as our oldest daughter. This is at the request of my ex-husband and his wife, not by my request. In addition, I have been taking our youngest to see a counselor about once every two weeks in order to try and figure out what has happened over there at his house between her and his wife. Alas, we have not gotten very far in solving this problem.
However, this weekend the girls are leaving for a week long vacation at my folk’s house out of state. They have done this each and every year since our youngest daughter was about 6 months old. It is a great time for them and other than my ex-husband complaining about them being gone and being a jerk about letting them go the last couple of years, it is a great time for them to bond with their extended family.
Since the ex-husband knew that they would be going out of town and that he would not get to see them over the next week he decided to take both of them even knowing how our youngest behaves when she is there. That means for one blessed morning I was able to get up and get myself ready and not have to keep repeating “Brush your hair, brush your teeth, where are your shoes, you can not wear that outfit it doesn’t match, stop fighting, get out of the tub, eat breakfast, blow your nose…etc” All moms reading this blog entry will probably understand. Getting yourself ready in the morning is one thing, trying to get you and two other beings ready is WAR.
Granted most mornings the kids are up and doing exactly what they are supposed to do, but for some reason since summer has come they have decided that means we don’t have a routine. During the school year we have a routine, get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, brush hair, out the door. For the most part the summer is the same, however, during the summer they go to a day camp. This day camp is great and I was turned onto it by my ex and his new wife….one of the few things we have agreed on for the five years we have been divorced. Anyway, all the kids go there, our kids and her kids from her first two marriages. It makes it easier on he and his wife if all the kids are in the same place, which I could care less about and am more concerned about whether my kids like being there. They love it, they are safe and entertained all day long. There are field trips and swimming (which is good considering each of my children is 1/3 fish).
Back to the story, the kids will be gone for the next week starting tomorrow afternoon until the 4th of July. Therefore, they both went to their Dad’s house last night and I was able to just get myself ready and I was able to do so in complete silence. For those of you out there that have your kids 24/7, you really need to have a day where you can wake up and not have any children to take care of or get ready. It is really nice.
When my alarm went off this morning, I got up and went to the kitchen and started the coffee. Out of sheer habit I went to my youngest room to wake her up and to my surprise she wasn’t there. I think I panicked for like 1/2 a second and then realized she was not supposed to be there. OK, so now what. I don’t have to get them ready, I don’t have to spend by maybe 30 minutes on myself. So I was able to drink my coffee, take a shower, shave my legs, and relax before my workday started. I even had time to get muffins for the office, which was GREAT.
Now, to be honest while it was great to not have to get anyone but myself ready. I really did miss having them there a bit. There was no Fairly Odd parents in the background while I was doing my hair, no calling from the kitchen for help with the toaster because it ate the Pop Tarts before they could. No asking for a few extra dollars for the vending machine at daycamp. I did miss them and I am ready for them to come home tomorrow even if it is only to put them on a plane to my parent’s.
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