Project 52 | Week 31

Yesterday, I drove home to NH (by myself) for the night (by myself) because I had a couple of photo shoots lined up.  I went by myself (did I mention that already?).  No husband, no kids, no dog.  Just me.  Alone.  By myself.  It was ….. weird.  I had the date on my calendar for months, and I would talk about it with gusto, seemingly excited to have a night to myself in our house- especially after the past month of (very) close living at the Cape.  It was so strange to be there knowing no one was going to come barreling through the doors yelling “MOM!” at the top of their lungs.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciated my alone time.  I went out to lunch with my friend,  read a trashy magazine (I’m talking US Weekly, not Playboy), caught up on a few episodes of True Blood, organized a cabinet (fun times), and had sushi and cocktails with some of my favorite people.  But when it was time to go to bed, I walked up the stairs and past the kids empty bedrooms,  I felt kind of sad.

But then I got over it when I spread out in my giant, ridiculously comfortable bed and slept until 8:00 AM!

Tonight, after I got back to the Cape, we went down to the beach so Oliver could finally get some fresh air (he’s been SO sick with strep since Monday).  Originally Tock was just going to take him while the girls and I stayed at home,  but my sweet Ollie boy requested we have a ‘family beach walk’ since I had been gone (and he missed me!).  It was the most perfect beach night- dead calm ocean, a gentle breeze with just the slightest hint of chill, and tons of sea glass to be found.  And, then we came back to the house, and all of the noise, chaos, total disregard for privacy, and potty talk started up.  No one wanted to brush their teeth,  Abby’s night time ritual of having a new injury pop up just before bedtime began, Oliver clogged the toilet, and Lila demanded to go to the hospital (we’re not quite sure why she does this, but she asks to go 5 out of  the 7 nights).  Life goes on.

Tonight, I’ll climb into our too-small-for-grown-adults bed that has a permanent layer of sand in it and get woken up at least once by one of the kids, and sleep until 5:45 AM when Lila wakes me up with her morning greeting of: “I WANT A SNACK!”,  and my one night away will have become just a thing of the past.  But, I think I’m okay with that.  Because I’d rather have this……..