As many of you know, Hubby took all four girls camping. They left on a Thursday morning and are due back this evening. I got a lot of comments about my free time. I kept going on and on about how much I was getting done.

It is true that I accomplished much. I’ve also gone hours without talking, skipped meals without realizing it and watched movies I had been wanting to see thanks to Movies On-Demand (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Secret Life of Bees are sooooooo worth watching). My laundry is caught up, I am ready for this coming week’s Girl Scout Day camp. Heck, I even put up my tomato stakes for the tomato plants the kids are growing with my mom! A lot got done, including the shelf-paper I have been wanting to line my pantry and bathroom with.

My mind also became numb. I saw how easy it would be to become a hermit. While I went shopping and had dinner with family, my urge to come home and be alone was strange. Almost like someone had clicked a pause button so I could rest.

I didn’t go in the girl’s rooms. I had planned on giving them a good cleaning, but it was to hard to go in there. It would cause me to think about them and worry. I didn’t need to worry. Hubby is perfectly capable of caring for the kids. The girls do a good job at taking care of themselves for the most part. Plus they are such tattle-tails trouble doesn’t stay a secret for long!

It has been a long year for me as a mom. I sometimes craved being alone so much I felt guilty. Happiness is what I am now feeling, because I do miss them so much. I miss the mess, the noise and the laughing.

In a few short hours they will all come bounding into the house, smelly with dirty clothes and talking all at once with stories of the trip! We will have baths and I’m sure I’ll be watching videos and seeing pictures very soon. My pause button will go back to fast-forward and I will cringe at the dirty laundry. My life will be normal again and I am ever so grateful!

Of course Hubby was dearly missed as well. He is the anchor of my ship called chaos.