When was the first time that you were away from your kids? After 4+ years of parenting, I am currently experiencing my first weekend away from both of my two young chickadees, and off at a conference in Chicago! And guess what . . . I miss them.
Amazing how it’s so easy to get enraptured in the professional connections that this conference affords and get to meet people doing so much and so actively within the medical community – and with the larger area of children’s health and well being – and then suddenly think of my 1 year old daughter squeaking “I yuv you” over the phone to me early this morning.
Can it be that she is experiencing a few days of life without her mommy, while mommy is pumping and saving up milk for the little one? Is she enjoying her naps with daddy and bonding time . . just the two of them? An overwhelming sense of both freedom and envy overtakes me as I think of her cuddly body and her smiles, and how I miss the musical adventurous storytelling of my son. Bet he is negotiating right now with his grandmother about how many books he will get to read for bedtime.
Strangely, this quick weekend jaunt which I thought would be quite lengthy turns out to be almost complete, and soon I will be gathering my son from his own Chicago visit and heading back home. What will the reunion be like? How different my kids will be after this time of separation, brief though it may seem!