Another Kind of Vacation

Don't I look relaxed? That's what being outside in beautiful weather for a week or so will do to you!

Now I'm back at home, enjoying another kind of vacation. Paul is visiting his friends in Pennsylvania for a few days and I'm reliving a bit of my old child-free days. Now you know I love Paul and love being his Mom, but I'm certainly happy to have these few days to myself. Well, not entirely to myself since the first day I spent with Ben. That was a real pleasure. We leisurely unpacked, did the grocery shopping and made dinner together; nothing remarkable but made special by it being just the two of us.

Today I visited my Mom. When I said I had to leave since this was my big chance to finally paint the master bedroom -- a task that has been on my list since the end of school -- she offered to come help me. We had a companionable time cleaning, prepping and painting and although we both have aching bodies from all that hard work, the room looks great and I feel great checking that big job off my "to do" list.

Tomorrow I'll be at school for a two-hour training session and I'm looking forward to seeing my friends there again. Afterwards I'm doing some errands. I rarely have time to putter around stores nowadays and so I'm excited about going wherever I want at my own pace. Later I'll meet an old friend for dinner.

Friday I'll pick up Paul. I'm already looking forward to hugging him and running my hands through his beautiful thick hair.

But meanwhile, I'm cherishing this brief relief from the daily demands of motherhood.