Oh the reality

Many weeks ago when the hubby asked me if he could attend a training session across the country, I thought to myself, this is doable right? Two kiddies - one of which wants to potty train, but doesn't really, and the other an eight-month-teething little drooler who apparently only likes mommy now. I figured, this was a good idea in my head. He needed the training and the new technology would be great for him and the company he worked for. I thought, really, I could handle it. Women and men do this all the time. One spouse travels for business and the other stays home and manages the household and takes car of the kids. Even a recent article in Parent magazine made me believe I could do what that author did, which was to go toe-to-toe with the everyday moments of balancing a full-time job with the craziness of taking care of the kids too. Oh, and then the reality set in.

Granted, I knew that I would miss him terribly, as this was truly the second trip we have not taken together. The first was a trek he made with his brother through a national forest where no cell phone would reach him and I had to make do with the thought that my survivor-man would indeed survive. Little did I realize that they were searching for the Atlanta-bomber in the same area, and later I would find that the FBI was also in the same forest he was in...

Managing a household is one thing, and then being the parent of two rambunctious kids is entirely another. You never know where the crawler will follow, or whether your rebel toddler will fight with you to go to bed and potty and eat and get her carseat. The list is endless, but when you take the child out of her norm, she doesn't like it. So not having daddy was a bit out of her norm, but I really think she was just standing up for what she wanted. I guess I can't be too upset about that.

The jury is still out, but I am quite grateful for my sister who came over to be my extra set of hands for bathy time and I'm looking forward to the next few days of unknown realities that will surely make for long nights. The best I can do is believe that anything is possible, and take one thing at a time. There's something to be said about single parents who do this day-in, day-out without a sliver of help from anyone. They manage to do it, and raise children who are loving, respectful and quite normal. To those who do this each and every day with little praise and much burden, I say you are amazing in all that you do.