"Me Time" Monday - Real Time Off

It's true that Monday isn’t the first day that comes to mind when I think of having some time for myself. I’m more likely to spend this particular day tackling mountains of laundry, piles of dishes and otherwise catching up from a busy weekend. So each week, I’ll be making a point to try out a new idea for “me time” and reporting back every Monday, when we all need inspiration the most.

When Noah was a baby, I remember being baffled by the idea of a mom's night out. Why would I want to leave my precious little child to go out to dinner with a bunch of women I only knew from a mom's group? Fast forward six years, and I see MNO's for the wonderful "me time" gift that they are . . . and those "mom's group" moms are now "homeschool group" moms - and some of my best friends!

So if I felt that way about an evening out without my child, you can imagine what my feelings on kid-less vacations must have been. I couldn't even imagine going anywhere without my kids. And to some point, I still can't. If we're traveling anywhere with amazing sights to see, I want them right there with me. But a year or so ago, I started thinking that a weekend away with just my hubby might actually be nice. So nice, in fact, that we started planning for it for our next anniversary.

Fast forward again to this past weekend - our first ever away without the kids - and I am now a raving fan! After a few hours of anxiety after I dropped them off, I quickly got into the groove of having no one needing anything from me, and it was nice!

They just started having sleepovers at my mom's last year, and the most they'd stayed is two nights (usually just one). But even though that gave us a weekend to ourselves at home, it gave us a weekend to ourselves at home . . . home, as in where the dishes and laundry never end, the food only turns into a meal if you cook it and there is always some kind of work - paying work, house work, school work - waiting to be done.

Although we didn't go far - just to the Gaylord Palms down by Disney - it really felt like a vacation. We slept in, read by the pool, took a segway tour of Celebration and just had a lot of fun together. In a matter of a few days, my attitude changed from never wanting to leave them again to wishing we had a few more days to ourselves.

The only downside? Getting back to reality today was tough!!!