The lone mother

The last time Packrat travelled, it was for about a week. This time it's longer. It's 2 weeks and a bit and I don't think we get to Skype this time. Even though I'm more prepared for it this time, it's still a lot to take. It has got a lot to do with me becoming more and more of a control freak with regards to the children.

I've changed.

Well, to be fair, I've always been pretty much a control freak. But once upon a time, I would be painting the town red whenever my kids wanted to stay over at the grandparents. I would have also been utterly panicked about being a lone parent and would have tried to fob off the kids to the grandparents as much as possible because I wouldn't know what to do with them. Now, I'm more stressed thinking about what I can possibly do with them on my own, especially on the weekends and the days they are off school. In the next two weeks, they will be off school on 3 weekdays! And I feel annoyed when I cannot be with them and have to leave them with the grandparents. Packrat assures me, as usual, that they will be fine and they will actually enjoy it. I, on the other hand, have my father's voice echoing in my head about 'disturbing other people' as he would put it when I stayed over at my cousin's house etc.

So, here goes two weeks of juggling work (which is massively high season right now), three children and the very differing schedules, preparing the twins for concerts, driving cross country to visit the parentals (I think I might get them to come over), fitting in wildlife feeding and possibly an exercise class or a run in between all that chaos. The reality is that it won't be very different from what I am doing now although Packrat helps pick up the slack on the weekends and does some of the soccer mom duties if he is not tied down at work.

There is something to be said about husbands who are hands on. It's a strange thought to have, but when dads take on the more traditional distant father figure role, their presence isn't as missed as when they help get the kids to sleep on some nights and hang out with the kids every second of the weekend while Mommy goes out to work.

So Packrat, hopefully the next 15 days fly by. Evan cannot wait to do more experiments with you and Jordan would like to know when her next 'date' with Papa is. Muffin just wants to know where Papa is in the morning because he finds himself the only one in the bed beside Mommy in the morning.

And as a promise to Packrat, so that he doesn't miss too much while he is away and so that he doesn't have to rely on my splotchy memory to recall the highlights of the days to come, I will attempt to start a "Dear Papa, this is what we did today" series.

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