An afternoon off.

What would you do if your triplets were in very good hands with their grandparents at home, leaving you free to do whatever you please for an entire afternoon? My dad came to town last night for a conference in DC. Since it is going to keep my mom and dad busy for the next few days, they suggested I take an afternoon of carefree, no-rush, do-whatever-I-want fun. My mom often reminds me to get out of the house while I have the chance, but I don’t always want to leave her with the crew for more than a quick trip to the store, and usually they are asleep most of the time. I know she can handle them, that’s not the issue. It’s that I feel slightly guilty giving her all that responsibility for an extended amount of time, knowing all she might encounter. Now that she’s been with them for all this time, and knows their routine (it takes relearning every time she comes, as they change so much between her visits), it gets easier for me to leave guilt-free, but still, if it’s not necessary to leave, I feel funny doing it. But maybe getting out just to get out is okay sometimes, even if you aren’t out of milk, or don’t need more baby ibuprofen. If the offer is there, it’s okay to take advantage of it.

I don’t think I’m deprived of leaving the house. I made myself take the kids with me on errands earlier than I thought I would, making me feel pretty normal for the situation I was in. And even though I don’t take the kids out right now, I still have my wonderful sister to help me out when my mom leaves. But it’s always rushed, and I always wonder what’s going on at home, and if I’m inconveniencing anyone. KC is great to let me have time to myself on Saturdays, but that takes that time away from him. It’s the life of a mother, I suppose, and I’ll take chubby babies over carefree shopping any day. Sometimes you just wish you had a moment to relax, you know?

I used to shop just for the fun of it. It didn’t matter if I found/needed anything or not, but mostly to just pass the time. Now, shopping without the intent of crossing many things off a list seems like a frivolous, and wasteful use of my time. Free time is precious, so I use it wisely. There is always so much to do at home, so why go out when I don’t really have anything to get or anywhere to go, and spend money I wouldn’t spend if I just stayed home and did my household duties (how warped our brains become when we have kids)? But knowing this opportunity doesn’t come so often, I decided to zip up my boots and head out. With Elise given the same offer, naturally we went together. 

So what crazy plan did we moms come up with to fill our afternoon of freedom? With nothing really in mind, we just set out and decided we needed a couple things at the dreaded Walmart (I had some store credit) where there was also a Redbox there I wanted to hit. That was our first exciting stop. Then we headed to the library to return/check out some items. Woo hoo! Then feeling pathetic, we drove by the nearby theater to see what movies were playing and what times. No good for our schedule. Then feeling even more pathetic, we decided to go to one of our favorite places to hang out, Target. Yes, were were really living it up folks. We hardly bought anything (how’s that for self control?) and headed home to a bunch of happy babies.

Well isn’t that what you would do with your free afternoon? Okay, so we didn’t do anything too productive, or too exciting. But we did get out, and had a good time, laughing all the while. And it felt good. Maybe someday that afternoon could turn into a whole day, or a few days for that matter. Mom and dad, are you ready for that?! As much as I’d miss my little loves, I think I could really do some damage if I had a few days to kill, instead of just a few hours. Hmm. . .I’m liking the sound of that.