Thursday, March 29, 2012

Running Away

At this time tomorrow I will be on an airplane about 30 minutes from landing in New York City.  When John returned from deployment in December he encouraged me to take some time and do a weekend trip to visit some dear college girlfriends.  It took a little longer to plan than anticipated, but I am finally headed to the land of martinis and shopping and friends and small walk-up apartments.  I.can't.wait.  Bonus that I am not going in the middle of summer.  Because while cute apartments are charming, their lack of air conditioning isn't.

They say that when you have kids that things that used to be a chore (grocery shopping solo) become a vacation (seriously, grocery shopping is totally a vacation!).  I feel the same way about tomorrow's flight.  I am looking forward to grabbing a coffee at the airport shop, sitting in the waiting area alone, reading my book, and just taking a deep breath.  I might even smile at the TSA Agent.

This will be my first night away from my family since August of last year when I went to a wedding.  And as much as I love my family, I need this time.  I will miss them so incredibly much.  But I also miss my friends, I miss sleep, and I miss conversations with women that don't start with "how old are your kids"?  This is not to say that I don't absolutely adore my local friends and their kids, but there is something refreshing about visiting my friends who have a totally different life.  They live alone, they get dressed up for work in the morning and hit the NYC pavement, and they won't be asking me about potty training or sleep regression.  If they do, they will just get this...

   
I know that by the time Sunday rolls around I will be missing Kate, Connor, and Johnny so much that every minute of the flight will drag by.  It is good to miss those we love sometimes.  To get some time to exercise a different part of our self and come back refreshed.  Maybe I am trying to assuage the mommy guilt (I mean, who leaves their kids for two and a half days? **clutches pearls**) but I really do feel like this will be a good weekend for my overall mental health.

Wish me luck with fitting in with the cooler kids for a few days.  I'll let you know about my adventures in the big apple on Monday!

Edited to add:  My sweet hubby reminded me of that pesky kid free trip to France I took last November.  So this is the first trip away from kids AND hubby since August of last year.  Because, ya know, we also need a break from our spouses every once in awhile ;).

7 comments:

Nikki said...

When I flew to the UK last year, everyone kept saying "Oh, and such a long flight, did it go OK?". Ummm..... YEAH it went OK, I was alone!! I slept and I ate and read trashy magazines and then I watched non-child friendly movies! Airline travel sans bebes when you are used to traveling with beaucoup bebes is wonderful.

Have a great girly weekend!

Jen said...

jealous! while Nolan is too young for me to be away for more than a few hours (and I haven't even done that yet), I do miss girl time A LOT.

have an amazing weekend!

Karen said...

Yay! Have a wonderful time. Girls weekends are so important. :)

Jenni Stearns said...

I'm cheering for you! Have so much fun! I really think times away to remember that our given name isn't "mom" makes us better moms. Have so much fun!

Jill said...

@Jenni, I am actually reminded of that sometimes because Kate loves to call me Jill when she wants my attention badly. It goes something like "Momma? Mommy? Mom? Mommy? Jill? Can you hear me? Momma? MOM? JILLLLLL?????" She does the same thing to Johnny. Cracks me up :).

Kimber said...

That sounds like so much fun! I just read last month's issue of Real Simple where it was talking about how women spend their free time, etc. I should forward you the link... but by the end of the article I was thinking, man, I DO need a mini-vacation with no kids. Or even an hour at a used bookstore without the kids. Or ANYTHING without the kids. Have a great trip!

Kimber said...

The link to the Real Simple article: http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/time-management/spend-time-00100000077167/index.html
In the magazine they had studies throughout the article with little studies they had about how we spend our time. It was interesting!

Hi, I'm Jill!

Hi, I'm Jill!
Extrovert. Mom of two. Wife of a cute Naval Aviator. Lover of wine. When I'm not chasing my two kids around town you will find me writing, taking too many photos, and researching the ten future areas the Navy could potentially (but probably won't) PCS us. We are fish out of water, landlocked at 7,000 feet. For now.

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