Empty Nest Week

The kids were away with the grandparents this week. Bless my mom and dad for sweeping them away for a little while. Sounds good, doesn't it? No nagging or fighting. No demands for dinner. No whining. It's rare to have a vacation from motherhood, and I was really looking forward to it. I started to think about what I could do with all of my free time....

Free time! Oh my gosh, plenty of time for me. I had big aspirations for the week with three things in mind.

1. Resume. Folks, it's time. Actually I'm way overdue. I must resume the workout routine. I spent a lot of time traveling this month; and during this time, the workout routine took a back seat. It seemed I was either too busy or too tired to get it done. I also had way too many excuses (ahem). So Monday, I was determined and ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill. It felt great! I was in a groove and feeling wonderful. But the next morning I woke up extremely sore. Wow, did I ever feel out of shape. What happened to the runner's high I had yesterday? So I took the day off. The next day I woke up kind of late, so I made plans in my head to run after work. But Hubby called me at 4:00; he had plans to take me out. Which would you have chosen? Exactly. Another day off. And that was the pattern for the week. So I was semi-successful with this goal and managed to get a few workouts in this week. It has been really hard to get back into the swing of things. Note to self: never get out of the swing of things.

Peasant Platter at Broadway Brewery

2. Reconnect. Time to reconnect with my husband. It's a prefect time when the kids are away. Every night is date night, right? Um... well, not exactly. We found out we're pretty old and boring! And pretty broke. We had a lot of fun together in Vegas the week before. But we did have Wednesday night out together (as I mentioned above) at our favorite place: Broadway Brewery. I sampled some new beers and had their wonderful Peasant Platter. Doesn't it look delicious? I like this dish because it's always something different. They change what they serve on the platter depending on the season. It's fabulous. We also went out and reconnected with some friends on Friday night. That was a fun time! The weather was perfect for grilling food and chilling on the back patio in front of a fire. You could say I was more successful with this goal. Relationships restored!

3. Relax. Now this goal was extremely successful. I did plenty of this. I actually got really, really good at this. Relaxed with my husband. Relaxed on my own. Relaxed with some good friends. It was very nice. And quiet. Almost too quiet. I miss my kids. Sure there has been no nagging or fighting. No demands for dinner. No whining. I sure didn't miss that. But there were no giggles. No high fives from my son. No singing in the shower from my daughter. No little voices. No little hugs. That's the best part of motherhood, isn't it?

So what did I learn during my empty nest week? To borrow a line from a late-80's power ballad... "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." Ain't it the truth? It really takes the darkness to appreciate the light, and I miss my little stars of the night. My world is a whole lot brighter with them in it, and my appreciation has been renewed.

Mama bird is ready for her nest to be full again.

-Cheri