I took the weekend off. I'm sure you could tell. Before a few minutes ago, I hadn't posted to Instagram since Saturday. I'm sure you all thought I was dead.
I didn't have to work last weekend. I left work on Friday at eleven a.m. and didn't have to be back until this morning. There was something magical about that. There was something sacred about that. I wanted to enjoy every single minute at home. Just my family and me, doing whatever we chose, or choosing nothing at all.
We went to a birthday party. I took naps. The kids played on the iPad longer than they should have. We ate lots of junk food. Subway cooked dinner. McDonald's cooked breakfast. We decided to stop in at Trader Joe's, which was a new adventure for the girls, since we rarely go. We watched some World Cup and even though we know nothing about soccer, we cheered anyway for 'Merica. And we said it just like that too. Because it made us giggle.
And just like most weekends, it wasn't long enough. We could spend the entire week wishing for more, but the magic of the Summer is that any night can feel like a Saturday.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a weekend off. A weekend to ditch the make up. A weekend to let my hair do what it wanted. I also left my phone on the table on in my purse. I didn't open my Instagram app much, only Facebook when I was tagged. I didn't worry about spending too much time on my phone or not enough time with my kids. I didn't even write, even though I could have at any time. I could have spent the entire weekend writing.
Instead I was mom. The mom without a blog or a book working it's way out of her brain. I was the mom without a story to tell. I was the mom without pictures to take. I was the mom who said yes to ice cream after eight at night. I was the mom who couldn't be bribed to cook or do laundry. I was the mom who took a nap. The mom who read a book when she was asked by her kids. The mom who stayed outside and watched her kids and their wild imaginations. I was the mom who was present. Finally.
I'm not that mom very often. I'm often distracted with my mind in a million other places. But yesterday I realized that being present in this life and unplugging from my other one was just what I needed. I needed to breathe, and breathe life back into me. Being slow and still, even for a few short days, is just what I needed.
It's Monday and life is in full swing. I'm back at the keyboard and my kids are probably getting into trouble. I'm plugged in and going full speed again. But this time I know that stepping away and unplugging isn't the end of the world, it isn't even the end of my world.
It's an entirely different world all together. And it was exactly what I needed.
