Some Alone Time

I rarely ever give myself any time to be alone. My days consist of work, taking care of Emery, gym time, school work, and chores. On the weekends I spend a lot of time catching up on anything I forgot to do during the week. And regardless of whatever it is that I'm doing, I am always surrounded by people. Whether it's my child, family, friends, or strangers in a fitness class I am never alone. However, this past weekend I was unexpectedly given a whole 24 hours to myself. You see, my husband and brother-in-law made a trip down south to visit one of his old friends who's down for work training. They left on Saturday morning. And then, out of nowhere Emery asks if she can spend the night at her grandparents house. After she asked my mom, who of course said said yes, I made the drive over. I asked her if she was sure, and what would I do while she was gone? She simply stated, "Mom, you're not alone. Here are my baby dolls. Pretend they're real and I'll be back tomorrow. It's not that long." She patted my cheek and said "Be a brave girl, Mommy." and so with that I dropped her off. 

You guys. I had no idea what to do with myself. Here I was with all of this free time, and I had no idea where to even begin. Do I go see a movie? Do I go grab a bottle (or two) of wine? Do I go hit the gym? Maybe take the dogs for a walk. Should I go out and have a nice quiet dinner somewhere? Were any of my friends in town? Should I go get some shopping done? I mean, the possibilities were endless. There was a lot of stuff that needed to be done around the house and I sat in my kitchen contemplating whether or not I should just get started on housework. If I did it right then I wouldn't have to worry about it the next day which would technically be the smart thing to do, right? Well, here's what all I didn't do: I didn't wash clothes. I didn't do the dishes. I didn't sweep or mop. I didn't clean the bathroom or vacuum the carpets. I didn't pick up Emery's room even though it desperately needs it. No, instead, I brought the dogs in and washed them off. I laid down blankets on the couch, and we all snuggled up for a "Switched at Birth" marathon (don't judge) followed by some awesomely cheesy romance movies on Netflix. 

And that my friends is how I spent my Saturday night. I finally went to bed around 3 am only to be back up at 7 am. Habits, am I right? Though I just lounged in bed for an hour and a half before finally deciding that I should get up, and at least attempt a normal routine. Otherwise I'd pay for it later. So, I ate cereal in bed, and read the rest of a book that I needed to finish. I napped for about thirty minutes afterwards, and then FINALLY got ready for my day. It. Was. AWESOME! When I say that I had the best time doing nothing I'm not joking. It was so nice to just be by myself too. I didn't worry about chores or feeding everyone. I didn't worry about what I was going to wear or whether the clothes were washed. I walked around in my underwear, people. These chances are really few and far between. Really far. I don't ever get time like this because I'm always going. There's always something else I could be doing, and if you know me you know everyone else comes before me. That's just how I am. Naturally though, I'm a pretty independent person, and there are times when I crave that space. I don't push for it though. Had Emery not even mentioned anything I would have happily spent the whole weekend with it just being us two. In fact, I had been looking forward to it. However, she wanted to have a sleep over with her grandma & grandpa. Something tells me ice cream was involved. So, I let her.

Around eleven on Sunday Emery finally called to tell me that she would be ready for me to pick her up as soon as she was done "driving" her car. Soon after that I received a text from my sister-in-law letting me know that we were still on for a kayaking trip that afternoon. Which is a post for another time. So, off I went to pick up my little. She had made some crafts, colored some pictures, and even showed me a few gymnastic moves that she learned while at her grandparent's house. She was ecstatic and I finally felt like I had reset the internal batteries. Gratitude was expressed to everyone. Once we made our way back home we started to get ready for our next adventure of the day. But for that story, you'll just have to wait to read about it later.