My husband has been in Texas for a conference for the last five days, and I’ve learned a lot about myself, my children, and my parenting during that time he was away. I learned that I can step-up to challenges and emerge a better, more confident person. Hurtful words from someone I care about taught me that I can turn difficulty into a life lesson of kindness and love for my children. Best of all, I learned that even when I’m all alone, I’m never really completely alone. I have an amazing support system with my family and friends.
In an effort to try to have a lot of fun while he was gone, I got very creative with meals: we had pink pancakes (beet and apple) that Saturday morning, a picnic in the living room that Friday night, and mini-party for a football game on Sunday. We played games over the weekend and generally tried to make a big party out of everything, and somehow I still was able to sneak in some practice. They got to spend a few hours with their great-grandparents while I did some rush grocery shopping before an ice storm, and that proved to be a lot of fun and was helpful in so many ways. Even my daughter’s piano practice was super efficient (don’t ask me how…she’s always so silly when she sits down at the piano, yet she played quite well at her lesson today). I learned that I don’t have to be afraid of doing this wild thing called parenting by myself for an extended period of time, I can turn craziness into a party (except for when they decided to flood the upstairs bathroom while I was on the phone with my dad — that was craziness doing a nosedive). I learned that I can turn fear into motivation, which is a pretty awesome and powerful thing.