One week. My kids are leaving me for one whole week. This summer, both of my boys are going to summer camp on Catalina Island for ONE WEEK. Both of them. Gone. As in…not here. G.O.N.E. Sure at first I worried how would I survive a week without the laundry, the sport practices, the tripping on roller blades, the $500 trips to the grocery store my precious babies. So I asked the camp lady crazy-helicopter-mom questions like ‘Can I visit the camp during the week?’ and ‘Can the boys use their cell phone to call me at bedtime?’….all questions I am sure she has heard before. The answers came quick and swift; NO and NO. But were followed with “your boys will be so busy spear fishing, sailing and flirting with girls they won’t have time to miss you”. Um, yeah well that is great camp lady….great. THEY will be SO BUSY they won’t miss ME. But what about ME camp lady? What about ME missing THEM? And then she nonchalantly said it… “Sounds like a great time for you to take a vacation maybe!” WHAT?!!!!? 
Then from that moment on, I have taken about 50 vacations in my mind. I have fantasized every possible scenario for the week-without-children. In my mind I went to Atlanta to hang out with Soliloquy. I went up to San Fran to sleep in my friend Susan’s cashmere comforter guest house for 24 hours straight and then on to Foolery’s to herd cattle in heels. I went with TheHusband to Hawaii for our now 12 year delayed honeymoon. I went on a photographing odyssey with my mom to Mexico. Vegas. Oh Vegas. Heck, one day I went to Machu Picchu in Peru. In my mind, I have used the week-without-children a hundred times over. Then the fantasies got practical: I painted all the trim and doors in the house. I re-did the kids rooms. Cleaned out all the closets. Re-did the garage. I painted the tiki-hut in the backyard. Installed the new bathroom lights. Installed new dining room lights. Installed ALL NEW LIGHTS. I worked out every day and become a hottie-mom by the time the kids returned. I finished writing my book. After living out all these options in my mind, I am exhausted. But I did finally settle on what I was going to do with my week…. 
NOTHING. I plan on doing nothing. Just staying home and drinking heavily missing my babies. well, maybe….I still have 4 months to think it over…. |
