The most selfish week I’ve ever had

The kids have now been in another country with grandma for 7 days. Do I miss them?

Three days ago I would have said “Not.At.All.”

Now I’ve started to miss them a little bit but I only have 5 more days of freedom so I’m making the most of it while I can 🙂

Until your kids are out of sight for more than a day you don’t realise how much parenting consumes your mind and your daily life. Even though I work, even if though I go running, even though I do get to do stuff with just the husband once in a while – as long as the kids are ‘around’ my mind is full of everything related to them: whether it’s the endless ‘to-do’ lists to do with the house / homework / packed lunches / dinners / etc. or it’s analysing their latest tantrums to figure out how to deal with one next time.

This week I’ve seen what life’s like for those who don’t have kids – I wake up when I wake up, not when someone else wakes me, I only think about my own lunch and dinner, usually at the last minute as no planning ahead is required, I don’t have to rush home from work leaving things unfinished for the next day, I don’t have to rush back to the office from CrossFit at lunch time because I know that I can work later if necessary, I run every day, I don’t have to cook dinner (my favourite!), I walk to the nearest Asian restaurant with the husband in the evening and eat spicy food every.single.night., I stay up late reading books or watching movies because I know no one will wake me at night and getting into work later than usual is not a problem because I can leave later!

Before I had kids I would have had moments of “I’m bored” every day, but now I do not take these days of freedom for granted. I’m totally having a holiday before my proper holiday away from home starts. I’m looking forward to another 5 days of life that’s all about me, but next Friday I will be excited to get on the plane to my little munchkins again, to hear their funny stories and jokes again, to cuddle with them again, to take them swimming every day, to read them books (they’re finally old enough so I can read proper books 🙂 and to discuss important matters such as the universe expanding or which baddie in Hero Factory is badder than others.

Life is a pretty amazing thing.