Home Alone

Since I became a dad almost four years ago, I've taken three business trips solo totaling seven nights, and I've returned home from Ocean City for a night each of the last three summers when our family has been there for the week. But apart from that, I haven't had the experience of going to bed without having to worry about the kids' bedtime, and of waking up without having to worry about the kids' waking up.

Until this week. Amy took the kids for an overnighter at our friends' place in Ocean City. They left Tuesday morning shortly after I left for work, and returned Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before I returned from work. In between, they went to a children's museum and to dinner, splashed in puddles, and spent a lot of time indoors. (The weather was pretty foul pretty much the whole time they were there, and since it's so early in the season, the water wasn't going to be much fun anyway.)

At bedtime, they didn't want to go to sleep, and at naptime, they didn't want to take naps. In public, Aaron was constantly throwing tantrums, only to be riled up again by Jada when he finally did calm down; and in private, both of them were predictably stir crazy, unable to simply enjoy the arts and crafts that our friends' kids were nice enough to share with them. Needless to say, Amy was pretty fried from the experience.

As for me, I'm not going to lie: it was nice to go for a long run after work, to eat dinner and go to bed without having to deal with anyone else, and to get up in the morning without worrying about how soon the kids were going to wake up. But I did actually miss Amy and the kids, and found the silence and solitude a little weird, however relaxing it was. Being home alone for a night was a nice treat; but it's also a treat to have everyone home.