Friday, June 21

Yes week

A few years ago, a box arrived from my mom with goodies for the kids. Inside, Peyton found a treasure: the Yes Day book. 

He totally grasped the concept the minute we started reading it, and quickly asked when he could have a "Yes Day." A day when he could ask to do anything and we would agree. When he could come up with something crazy, like ice cream for breakfast or a frog hunt in your PJs at night.

That's kinda been my life since Sunday. A Yes Week, if you will. 

Yes.

Scott and I are incredibly blessed with brave grandparents willing to assume responsibility of our children for an entire week. I like to call this Marriage Saving week. We pack an entire year's worth of date nights into 6 or 7 days. Completely uninterrupted. Less constrained by the clock. We're down two schedules to maintain, which means more time for each other. 

This year, the trip's timing was especially critical as it came after a difficult spring for Scott and I. 

Since January, there were whole weeks where we barely grunted hi and good night after long days. Two nights a week, he was at volleyball practice from 6:30 pm to 10 pm. One or two weekends a month, he left for an overnight tournament. During track season he was only home 1 night a week, and often gone before the kids woke in the morning. I don't want to minimize the difficulties some of you face with spouses traveling for many, many more overnights; I know that is hard. But I couldn't handle much more than this and still be a pleasant wife. This I know about me.

So we caught up this week. At the pool, at the deck of a restaurant, on a lake cruise. We had a lazy dinner on the patio. We enjoyed awesome friend time - We biked to Sun Prairie's finer establishments and stayed out a little too late and laughed a little too much. We danced and ate way too much pizza. Because we needed to. 


We also enjoyed some time alone or with just the girls/just the guys. A well-chosen wine and recipe club date gave me time to catch up with a some of my favorite ladies. And it has helped that the weather has been phenomenal. Of course, I carved in some beach time.

I have moments where I feel indulgent -- with what I am eating, drinking, doing, spending.... But this is one week where saying yes feels like a necessary luxury. Very soon, life will be normal again, and while that's a good thing, it can also be a big thing. But because I stepped off the hamster wheel for awhile ... because I am refreshed ... I can jump into a life of epic adventure with a new outlook.

And lest you think the kids are getting short-changed on their parent time, let me assure you they are enjoying every minute. For the kids, this is a solid week of attention and adventure. For two children who were thrilled to wave good-bye to school a couple of weeks ago, this was a nice entry to summer.

At least I think it is. They are still not home yet. So I'm going to go enjoy just a little longer.

Yes.

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