As I sit in another airport lounge at 5:00 AM waiting for my flight, I am sitting here thinking about my children and husband who are at home, still fast asleep in their warm beds. I think about what I will do on this business trip that will take me away from them for two nights. I think about how will my 3-year-old react when she wakes up to see that mommy’s not there. Will she whine and cry, or will she jump into my mother’s arms, not even asking where I am? My 6-year-old knows not to expect me when he wakes up. I have only just recently started telling him when I leave on a business trip. Until then it was simply mommy’s working early/late today. I think about the extra huge hug I got from him last night before he went to bed. “Goodnight for 2 more nights Maman” he said. 🙂
My mom will show up early today, a little earlier than she normally does, to take care of the kids, as she normally does. She will bring them back to her house this afternoon, where they won’t even notice I’m gone. They’ll sleep over there for the 2 nights that I’m gone and have a blast. It’ll be like a mini-vacation for them… easy not to think about mommy or where she is. They will go to the park, visit with my sister and her dog (who just moved back from the west coast), play in my stepfather’s office, go to sleep late and eat delicious homemade food.
My husband will come back from work and watch football, order in junk food, lay on the couch in his underwear (TMI? 🙂 ) and drink beer. He’ll enjoy the bachelor life for 2 nights while the kids and I are not home.
I’ll be working. Visiting with and entertaining clients. Making all of their problems go away.
Sleeping in a lush king sized bed by myself. Sleeping “in” not having to get breakfast or dinner for anyone else but me.
I’ll have a large bathroom countertop all to myself, which I’ll spread all of my toiletries and makeup across and not have to worry about anyone touching or moving it.
This is the routine that we have all come to accept and live with as my occasional business trips take me away from my family, thankfully for only a couple of days at a time. It all sounds like a lovely staycation for them while I’m away. But when I come home, the kids run across the house and jump into my arms. The 3-year-old tells me how she missed me. The 6-year-old wants to hear about the city I visited, and want to know what present I brought back for him. My husband will say how he felt like a part of him was missing with everyone out of the house, and how happy he is to have his family back home again. Everyone will be happy to see me. And I will be happy to see them, to tuck them in and cuddle with them as I read their bed time stories.
Being away, and coming home to their bright smiling faces, their kisses and love reminds me of why prepping of so many meals, doing loads of laundry, running all of the errands – basically being the mother – is so worth it!
And the best part is? I get to unpack, and repack to go away again in two days, but this time with my entire family! 🙂
This is an original World Moms blog Post by Maman Aya.
Do you ever get time away from your family (either forced or voluntarily)? How do you manage it?
Maman Aya, I love the positive spin you put on your time away from your family and, of course, the reunion when you return. How wonderful to have your extended family close by and your children having such a lot to do with them. What a fabulous post!
Thanks Karyn! Once I got used to going on my business trips, I stopped looking at them negatively and started to realize that they can be fun for everyone. And yes, I am really lucky to have my mother so involved with the kids. They have such a special relationship!
Lovely post and it resonated with me as I was in a similar situation over ten years ago when my elder son with just 4 years and my younger wasn’t born yet. My job required that I travel for almost a year, the trip usually took between 4 to 5 days and I usually had to go for 2 trips per month and sometimes 3.
Although I enjoyed many of those trips because they were in very beautiful cities of Egypt but I always felt guilty of leaving my only child so frequently. Now that my sons are both over ten I wish I could find a job that allows me to travel and have some time on my own 😀
Lovely post, Thanks for sharing 🙂
Isn’t it funny when you think of a business trip as your own time? I often call these 2-3 day trips my ‘work cations’ for that reason. 😀 I too felt guilty about it at first, and while the kids were still breastfeeding I would even bring them with me (in fact I wrote a post about it last year – http://www.worldmomsblog.com/2012/02/27/new-york-usa-business-travel-with-children/), but now that they are a little older (3 and 6) I go on my own and am less stressed, so I share your feeling.
Thanks for stopping by Nihad!
I wish I have work-cation I could sure use one right now 😀 Enjoy your time and your upcoming vacation time 🙂
Thank you Maureen! I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago, so am back from both… And I did enjoy them both! 🙂
I think the kids staying with your mom helps because they are not looking for you there. Maybe I need to try that!!
Thanks for letting us into your life, Maman Aya!
Jen 🙂
That is precisely why it works Jen. When I went to the hospital to have my daughter, my son was 3.5 and went to my mom’s. he didn’t even notice that he hadn’t seen me for 3 days, he was having do much fun! It’s become a very useful trick to keep me sane! 🙂
I think I stress more when my kids are not around than when they are, so as of right now (even if I long for some me-time sometimes) I prefere to be around my kids – I think I can relax more with them around than without.
I am very lucky that “not having the kids around” usually means they are at my mother’s house, so I know that they are well cared for and safe and having fun, so I don’t need to stress. I know you are not in the same boat, since your family is so far away… I would probably feel the same way as you if my family were thousands of miles away. Thanks for stopping by!
I get to go way for four nights at the end of this month for work and I am actually looking forward to it. 🙂
My hubby travels often and it’s kind of routine in our house.
Enjoy the time away Suzie. It can be refreshing. Oh – and I will be too (again), so, I may be seeing you in London 😉