A Lot of Something

I've been living the life of a single mom this last week with my husband on a business trip. It's not my preference to have him away, but I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoy these moments a couple of times a year where I have the kids to myself, the details and timing of every day on my terms one hundred percent.

When my mom called tonight, also out of town, she asked what I'd been doing today, and I kind of drew a blank. All I could think of was emptying the dishwasher and running loads of laundry. So as I put my baby boy to bed, instead of telling him a story (really, what does a 7 month old know of stories anyhow), I whispered about the small details of the day, such as our early morning walk to get coffee and watching my nine year old spring out of bed and bolt downstairs when I said the words, "Lucky Charms," since he's not accustomed to such an offer. I went to the gym and yammered on for 60 minutes straight to two girlfriends while sweating buckets. My sons and I ate bacon and eggs between fish shaped bread. I paid $60 to fill up my gas tank and drove my eldest to a boy scout meeting where he was the first and only one to show up. Baby and I strolled around my older sons playing roller hockey. I touched up some paint in my hallway, and cleaned up the supplies. We went to 5:30 mass, so we can sleep in tomorrow, and instead of scolding them on our way home for behaving inappropriately, I scolded myself for laughing along with them. I lay my munchkin down in his crib and patted his warm, little back, and the story continued. I made real hot fudge sauce for ice cream sundaes, and set my middle boy up in bed with comic books and a book light. I watched Juno with my thirteen-year-old (I know, it's not R, but it's close) and talked about unplanned pregnancies and cool music. Now, I'm obviously sitting down to post my slice before midnight.

So I don't know, what I thought was nothing much sure seems like a lot when I put it all out there. Let's not ignore the fact that I also did laundry and dishes, lunch and dinner; I obviously changed diapers, ran baths, checked in to e-mail and Facebook, and also did a quick Google search of high fructose corn syrup (hence the homemade hot fudge sauce).

Tomorrow, we'll welcome the dad home from his week away, and we're sure to fill the day with somethings. It's just a good thing there's plenty to go around. I think I can share.