The storm before the calm

I know you Moms out there can relate...trying to get my family organized so I can get out of town is mayhem! I run myself ragged lining up play dates and after-school care and carpools so my husband can still work a relatively normal work schedule. Notes to the teachers so they know Dad is in charge. Making sure every event is out of my head and onto the calendar...oh! The piano teacher needs a check next week! Don't forget to leave a check for the cleaning lady Wednesday morning. Are there enough grapes in the house, because if I want the picky eater to eat fruit at all while I'm gone, there's got to be grapes.

I always have a moment here or there when I wonder if it's worth it. The pile of email and paper and laundry (even though my hubby is laundry rockstar) keeps me buried for a week after I return. But it IS worth it!! I might be frazzled when I sit my butt on that plane, and I'll be missing my kids and worrying about my husband losing his mind, but I need to do it! 

A few days in to my trip I'm going to be sipping a rose' with lunch, breathing deeply, my eyes and mind wide open to the great big world outside of my little green house down the driveway. And my kids are going to be OKAY. My husband is going to be OKAY. The world will continue to spin on it's axis and no one will be any worse for the wear. I've started to see that my kids are at ages where they need to be doing more for themselves. They are having life experiences that I don't have any influence over or involvement in. And I can't fix everything for them anymore. I like that they sometimes thing I can and the best I can give them is a hug--and sometimes that works. But they're all going to have to be more independent these 9 days that I'm gone, and it's going to be really good for them. 

I've done a good job guiding them and they're growing into responsible, smart little people. I can't take the hard stuff away for them, but when I'm not there to smooth it out a bit they have the skills to do that for themselves. And I'm grateful I'll have my best friend with me to smooth things out for me when I'm missing them big time.