An Evening to Myself

Last night my wonderful husband took our beautiful daughter out to a soccer game. His dad coaches a local HS boys varsity team, so they went to go watch them play. This left me about 2 1/2 hours of glorious time to myself. And what do you think I did with my time?

A. Gave myself a mani/pedi.
B. Took a long bath with a great book.
C. Went out for coffee with a good friend.
D. Cleaned the house, did laundry and went grocery shopping.

It is so sad, but true - the answer is D! The reality of my life right now is that I am the blessed mama of an awesome, fun and SUPER active 10 month old. It is really hard for me get anything productive done during her awake hours. So, as soon as daddy and Kaelyn left yesterday I sped around the house picking up, cleaned up dinner and did the dishes, threw in a load of diapers, and then headed to the grocery store. Now, I must admit that on the way to the grocery store I stopped by Marshalls for a little look around and wound up finding some great jeans for a very reasonable price, and I also stopped by Starbucks before the grocery store. So, those were my ways of giving myself a little treat in the midst of doing the mundane stuff. Life has changed, and I now value silence in the car, the ability to try on clothes in a dressing room, and time to stroll around the grocery store, read labels and compare prices without worrying that my baby is going to get too tired. And even though I wasn't able to meet a friend, having a coffee drink to sip as I shopped without having to keep it away from baby's reaching hands is now a luxury to me. I view my time differently than I did before Kaelyn came, and I have learned to find joy in and appreciate the small gifts in life.

I laughed at myself last night when I got home and Jer asked me if I had a good time. My answer was, "I picked up around the house, washed dishes, did laundry, and went grocery shopping. What do you think?" But, the truth is that I did enjoy myself. The best part about it was that time was mine, and I chose to spend it the way that I wanted to spend it. And I am happy with my choices. It just struck me how much my priorities in life have changed - but all for the better.