We Want to be Alone
I don’t know about you all but sometimes as a parental unit my husband and I just need, not just crave, alone time. And we get it. If you are of the ilk that thinks, “They are your kids, only you can raise them”, then just stop reading now. This next post will just make you angry over my supposed selfishness as a human being and “bad” parenting skills.
In short, my father-in-law offered to take our daughter for the weekend so we could enjoy some time alone before this second baby arrives. We, trusting him and his wife and not being insane, took him up on his offer in less than a millisecond. Seriously?! A whole weekend of just us again. Yes please! Oh, the sights we would see! Maybe a hotel and dinner out in the city? Sleeping in was definetly on the menu and as the weekend approached we were practically beside ourselves with the possibilities. Then, we took a step back and decided to truly relax. No household organization would occur. No running ourselves ragged socializing and staying out late. This time, we would actually take a break. No trips to the baby store for last minute items, no cleaning the house. Just quiet, down time for us as a couple. It’s not as easy as one might think.
It was all too tempting to cram in a ton of fun things in one small weekend. However, in the end we decided to take it moment by moment. We slept in, read the paper over breakfast in a small café, walked the waterfront and perused a rather amazing and quite unexpected estate sale. We held hands and discussed child rearing issues and our future. We laughed and sat side by side in a movie theater and aimlessly wasted time figuring out where to go for dinner. It was pure bliss. I never felt so recharged while being eight months pregnant and my husband saw a smile on my face that wasn’t Joker-style crazy just relaxed and easy-going. A smile, he admitted, he had not seen in a long time.
So while some parents view alone time as a thing of the past or not for parental consumption, in our house, it is something we take very seriously. We need it like we need air. Without it we would be less of a happy family and even individuals and what type of parents would that really make us when all is said and done?
