Home alone, partying like it’s 1999

My husband takes our girl on a daddy-daughter trip every spring break. I don’t go. I’ve had work and can’t get off, and/or I choose to stay home and be ALONE. Man, even as I write that word, my heart soars.

Home alone. Alone time. Me time. A break from the demands of family life. So glorious. Parents, I think you know what I’m talking about.

My friend Eugene asked me if I wanted to go for dessert after the late news on Sunday. No, I said. I like to go home and stay as close to my sleep schedule as possible.

My five regular readers know I’m hung up on adhering to the same sleep schedule seven days a week. I’m rigid about that. I am sensitive to fluctuations in time.

Eugene is a single man with no children. I think he was surprised this mouse wasn’t living large since the cats are away. (Well, cat and kitten.)

Little does he know that “living large” for a tired mother means something completely different than the image movies and mainstream media feed you. I’m not having some comedic adventure that Kristen Wiig might eventually star in.

Here are the ways in which I partied like it’s 1999, which is a rather convenient theme song for my life since that’s the last year I was single before I met Claus:

-Made as much noise as I want when I get home from the late show

-Turned on all the bedroom lights

-Ate the last chocolate in the box… because I can

-Attended Saturday yoga class instead of taking someone to music lessons

-Looked at the clock at 2:30 p.m. and blew off what would be the school pickup

-Always get to lie on the favorite couch for TV time instead of fighting for it with two other people who usually get there first

-Get to write a blog whenever I want without being interrupted by a request every three minutes

-Slept eight to ten hours a night the entire week they were gone – maybe the first time in five years I’ve had a week like that. Amazing.

It’s the little things that make me happy.

They came home and it was like 2000 zero zero party over, oops, out of time. I missed them and it is nice to have the family back. But I also relished this week like it was 1999.