"Noah was a brave man to sail in a wooden boat with two termites." - Anonymous

Friday, August 1, 2008

I Did It!

I walked 60km.
I raised over $4000.
I camped.
I got to know my neighbour very well (in a good way).
I cried.
I laughed.
I met incredible men and women who believe we are making a difference.

In Which I Fall Down On My Son's Bed, Sobbing

So, hubs took the boys out to the mountains this past week. They left Saturday morning while I was traipsing around Calgary. Hubs is helping his dad develop the basement of the cabin his parents own in Fairmont, British Columbia (affectionately known as Calgary West). I use the term 'cabin' loosely. There are few true cabins out there, it seems people instead prefer to build replicas of homes they can find here in the city.

As I'm sure all of you moms out there can relate, I luuurrrv having the house to myself. Seriously, I think I started purring when hubs told me his plan. I've been able to get some cleaning done, eat what I want, not worry about leaving the office on time or what the traffic is like, things like that.

Sure, I missed them. Who wouldn't? I think I've got the two cutest, most lovable kids on the face of the earth. But, maybe I'm biased. And hubs is pretty great too (see above comment that it was his idea). So, needless to say, the first few nights I was a little sappy when bedtime rolled around and there were no little sleeping children to kiss goodnight, no one to tuck in or lay down with and no one to sneak in on in the middle of the night just to watch them.

Then Tuesday hit.

I had just finished getting ready for bed and I walked past my oldest son's room. So empty. No little body curled up beneath the blanket. No little head on the pillow. No soft rise and fall with tiny breaths. No little sighs or quiet snoring.

Holy crap.

I am not an emotional person by any stretch of the imagination. At least I don't think I am. Am I?

I was not ready for the onslaught of feelings and tears at that moment. The quiet of the house was overwhelming in that instant. I'm not sure there are appropriate words to describe it all. I don't think I ever realized just how long a week can be.

Needless to say, the cat has gotten a lot of attention this week. I'm sure she's loving it and will be extremely disappointed when those boys walk through the door tomorrow afternoon.

I was going to comment that I'm not sure I'll let them go away for this long without me again, but wait and ask me that next year.