Items #31, 22 & 24 – Go on an Overnight, Eat a Hot Breakfast… First, & Sleep in Just Because

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Items #31, 22 & 24 (Things I Really Enjoy & Things I Never Do) – Go on an Overnight, Eat a Hot Breakfast… First, & Sleep in Just Because

Any parents of young children know that parenting isn’t easy. Finding time to spend with your spouse only is even harder. Add in childcare challenges, jobs and other obligations and it makes it near impossible. My husband and I have only had a few nights away together since both of the boys were born and so I made a point to add getting away for an overnight without children an item on my #40for40in40 list.

I also added eating a hot breakfast first to my list because this is a luxury I am rarely afforded. Most meals at our house take less time to eat than it took to prepare the food, are often interrupted by demands… I mean requests… from the boys and even if we try to let the other person eat first while the food is still hot – it turns out that the boys only want the request to be fulfilled by that parent that day and the other just won’t do (a pattern that we have never been able to predict nor will we ever be able to).

Lastly, we don’t get to sleep in at our house… EVER. Both of our kids are early risers and always have been (and when I say early... I mean early... 5:30/6:00 am early). So for those of you that don’t have kids… imagine not sleeping in past 6:00 am for the last SIX years – not after a long day of travel, not when you are sick with some plague that the kids gave you in which you got ten times worse, not even just because you feel like it. Much like the meal interruptions above, even when we try to let the other person sleep in… the boys have something “soooo important” to tell the parent that is sleeping or there is some other high priority need that can’t possibly wait according to them so again… sleep gets interrupted and both parents are on duty.

Although my husband and I didn’t go far last month for our overnight, we did book a full 24 hours away and crammed as much kid-free time into that 24 hours that we could. We had a couples massage, binged watched some shows we had stored up in our queues, went to dinner when we felt like it (we contemplated fighting over who got to push the elevator buttons but alas we decided not to), went shopping without going to the kids play area at the mall, got dessert, went to bed early, slept in, enjoyed coffee in bed the next morning and walked to a breakfast where we both ate a hot meal simultaneously. It was so relaxing and re-energizing! It reminded us that taking time away is so important and makes us better parents. And I as write this and we are still in the midst of the goat rodeo we call bedtime here at home - the memory of this blissful time away will get us through until the next time. Adult conversation, sleep and hot food… we will meet again someday!

And so that completes #31, #22 and #24 on my list. 11 items checked off the list and 29 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40