On a Clear Day you can see Forever

The Husband got back today from his Boy's (uhh...Men's) Football weekend in St Louis. I'm ashamed to admit that for months, I've been sort of dreading this weekend because I knew that for four days, I would be solely responsible for The Boy. All me, all the time. No breaks. No rests. I love The Boy madly, but I felt like a teenaged girl going on a first date. What would we do? What if we ran out of things to talk about? Would we get to the end of the weekend and discover that we don't like each other as much as we thought we did?? I seriously lost sleep over this...

I've been back at work for a while now, and I have to say that it's a whole different experience than staying at home. (Duhhh, really?). When you're at home, you sort of get into a rhythm. For us, there may not have been a lot of spontaneity in our days, but we knew what to expect of each other, and we were cool with it. Most of the time. Now that The Boy is in daycare, he has an even more solid routine, and although I miss him like crazy during the day, I also appreciate the "break". And I think that The Boy is really happy to have a whole bunch of new friends that he sees on a regular basis. In fact, when The Husband and I took a couple of vacation days the other week, The Boy seemed rather perturbed that he was not going to "Big Boy Daycare".

As it turns out, I worried for nothing. We eased into rhythm that, although different from our Maternity Leave vibe, was nonetheless comfortable and, shockingly, almost effortless. It helped that The Boy was a textbook "Angel Baby" for the whole weekend.

The give and take between us was remarkable, really -- I tried to plan things that would interest him (usually involving a truck or a sandbox), and he agreeably acquiesced to my interests (a run with the Jogging Stroller, and a coffee at Starbucks).

The conversation flowed easily, although was limited in topics: "Ohhhhhh, dat!" (Translation: That looks interesting, please tell me what that is, Mummy); "E-i-yo!" (Translation: Please sing me a song involving farm animals, right now); and "Goggie!........Hiya!" (Translation: Look, there's a dog. Why won't he talk to me and why is he running away?).

And do we still like each other after spending every waking moment in each other's presence. Well, I can't speak for The Boy, but I can speak for myself, and the answer is Yes! Yes! A thousand times, Yes! I'm blessed with a son who is a far better person at 20 months than I will ever be. I only hope that by hanging out with him, I'll become a better version of myself.

Isn't that why we have kids in the first place?