...hushed reverent tones

Oh Reese, I want your clothes, and I appreciate the umpteen emails you send me about what is new. I really loved when you told me Merry Christmas, despite knowing your marketing department had everything to do with that. I want to hang out with you on your deck where it always seems to be a great time, but I am a cheap mom who just doesn’t go to enough garden parities to justify the money spent. Someday Reese, someday. Morning musings of a mom who just wants a change of scenery, wearing nice clothes and not contemplating what to make for dinner, lunch or breakfast.

It is astounding how getting out of your normal environment, if you haven’t been in a while, is almost like traveling to another country. No one knows you, they don’t realize you spent the last 3 months in leggings and for the first time you are out side your house in something other than what resembles pajamas. Strangers are clueless that this will be the first time in a year that you aren’t currently washing/drying laundry for a couple of days. This “other country” is some place you do not want to get used to, but understand its beauty. While it isn’t a warm beach, it is paradise. It is quiet, I don’t have to share the remote and I can sit in my underwear all day long, if I choose. It is the first time in a year that I have been away alone with my husband, and this annual trip is spoken of in hushed reverent tones. 

Like the famed Hailey’s Comet, it isn’t exactly something that happens every 75 years, but it is rare. Older women always want to bestow the nugget of wisdom to me about how much I will miss my kids when they leave the house. I am sure they have a valid point, but currently I just want to spend 24 hours alone with my husband. I know, first world problems. I usually want to respond to those sage women with, “Yeah, you have a point, are you free this weekend to stay with the kids who haven’t left my house?” In my head I see a cartoon character dashing away in a puff of smoke.

With spring in the air and four dogs in the house I have an open question. When is it too early to dive into the subject of the “Birds and the Bees?” I am not wanting to get too graphic with my seven year old, but with multiple dogs things get amorous more than I would like to explain. I am not sure how I feel about him saying, “Hey you, stop humping her!” Unsettling, is a good start. I am not sure if I even knew that word when I was seven. But, it happens and it is not like I can stop it. He was too little when we went to the zoo that one spring, lesson learned on that excursion. My current reaction to my seven year old calling out the erotic moments of our dogs is shutter, continue to wash the dishes and redirect the conversation. Hopefully spring temperatures and a new fenced in yard will help get everyone aired off and onto other subjects.

And as I was leaving my brief but splendid time on a vacation from my normal life, I felt like I was driving into a fire. Not sure most understand how odd it is for me to “not be a mom” for a few days. It feels comparable to driving a convertible with the top down, no cares or worries. As I was on the way back to 815 Washington, I felt dread and drear, as if to say, “Well, that was nice, back to the salt mines.” I had almost started to have conversations about things other than kids. It sort of feels like you are coming down off pain killers, reality hits hard when you have spent the last few days of doing what ever the hell YOU want. 

But the very best thing happened, fracking SPRING came knocking on the door. And we, the entire family that really didn’t miss me when I was gone, had the most fantastic weekend. Out doors, while begrudgingly doing yard work, I attempted to ween them off of their electronics, I go in for the tough kill first. But little by little, we started to feel the warm sun on our skin that we missed all winter. We played, laughed and enjoyed all the wonderful things our house has to offer in this first glimpse of spring. I thought it was hilarious when Oscar got all excited to eat lunch on the front porch…it is the little things. Thankfully, spring, you came at just the right moment as it felt a lot less like salt mines, and more like turning the corner and walking into a party.