When your Husband is Out of Town

My husband left yesterday on a trip to Europe. I'm meeting him next week. My parents will watch my children for about a week. I'm looking forward to the trip, but I have to confess, I hate when he's out of town. I'm one of those women who is blessed to have a husband that helps a lot with the children. Most mornings, he wakes them up first and then me. We head to the kitchen and he'll start breakfast for the girls and then get ready for work. I finish breakfast, get girls ready, and send them out the door with him to daycare. Then, it's time for me to get ready...

If you are a parent, you know that life with kids is a hectic combination of joy and exhaustion. So, when one parent is gone, the chaos increases exponentially! The day before my husband was leaving, my youngest spiked a fever. That means no daycare. Time to call my mother in law to see if she can help. Luckily, she's available! Then, my husband gets in a car crash on the way to the airport. Thankfully, he's fine, but the car is probably totaled. 

This morning, my youngest spiked a fever again. I spent my first bathroom trip with her collecting a urine sample to take to her pediatrician because she refused to pee yesterday when there with my mother in law. Then, I race through the house getting both girls dressed, my youngest to my mother in law's again, my oldest to daycare, the urine sample to the doc's office, and, phwww! I am lucky to make it to my office by noon! It's only day one of my husband being gone and I'm missing him already. 

I have the utmost respect for single parents who do it all. Parenting is the hardest thing I've ever done, and that includes getting my Ph.D. So, when my husband is gone, I think I appreciate him even more because it reminds me that I'm very lucky to have him in my life. And, it also reminds me to be grateful for the blessings I do have.