A Night Without My Boys (and girl!) Part Two

The last time I wrote a column with this title, it was just over a year ago and my husband had taken my son on his first fishing trip away from home.

Last week, I was away from my family for the first time ever for my very first business trip. Almost two full nights by myself.

I had very lofty goals for this trip. I was going to arrive at the resort early enough to get a massage. I was going to do a little work, then work on my book that I have in progress, before falling blissfully asleep.

I obviously lost my goals on the drive, because they were no where to be found. I arrived at the hotel an hour too late for a massage. I had to wait over 30 minutes for room service to bring my salad – which ended up not agreeing with me later. I got my laptop set up, and after about 15 minutes of work felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion. Seemed like a perfect time to go to bed, wouldn’t you think? Unfortunately, I not only had trouble falling asleep, but I woke up every hour all night.

I was so disappointed. I finally had the opportunity to sleep for a full night without worrying about one of the kids waking up and I couldn’t sleep.

I did have a little satisfaction knowing that my husband had a tough time at home. His first evening was spent with some friends of ours who came over to help him wear out the kids. Talk about cheating. It was also amusing to hear my husband complaining about not being able to take a shower until the kids went to bed. All I could think was “Welcome to my world.”

The next night went a little better, with the kids only getting to bed about 1.5 hours later than normal, after having eaten the same dinner two nights in a row.

Did they get a bath? No.

Did he remember to brush their teeth? Nope.

Luckily, they were wearing different clothes when I got home.

This taught me two very important lessons. One, I am not easily dispensable to my family, even though I sometimes feel like I am. And two, I can in fact, safely leave my family for over 24 hours without a major catastrophe occurring.

My kids might not smell as pretty, but at least I can feel confident that they will be in one piece.