Guess what? Tomorrow I’m going away for the entire weekend – without my family! I’ll be spending the weekend with over one hundred other women at a special retreat. I know some of them already, some I’ve gotten to know over the phone in the last year or so, and it will be really fun to match voices with faces! My husband really encouraged me to go, which helped me overcome my feeling that I should stay home with everyone. My baby is 15 months and no longer nursing, and will be fine without me, since he’ll be surrounded by everyone else in the family so nothing will be too different in his life. My toddler is more likely to notice my absence, but again, it makes a big difference to be part of a big family in situations like this – almost everyone else he’s used to spending all day long with will still be there.
About seven years ago, my grandfather was very ill and I flew to visit him, and was gone for the weekend. My kids still talk about the food my husband made that weekend – the biscuits that had so much baking powder that they were really bad, and the cholent (Sabbath stew) he made with hotdogs. As soon as they heard I was going, they turned to my husband with excitement and asked, “Can we have hot dog cholent?!?” They’re looking forward to a weekend with a different flavor while I’m gone.
As soon as my now 14 year old (she had a birthday a week ago) dd heard I was going three hours away for this convention, she immediately wanted to know if I could take her to friends in that state for the weekend. 🙂 I told her that I couldn’t chauffer her to any city in the state, but if it was within a reasonably short distance, I’d be willing to drop her off. When she gave me the address to mapquest, we were both delighted to find out that her friend lives ten minutes from the hotel!
Then my 12 year old dd wanted to come along when she heard about the plans – one of her favorite friends in the world is the younger sister of the friend my older dd asked about going to. So I said, sure, the more the merrier. Turns out my older daughter’s friend (and four other friends she has in that neighborhood) all have a school Shabbaton (activity/trip) planned for that weekend, so she’ll stay with another friend who lives just a couple of minutes away instead. And now the other girls are arranging their schedules so they can come see her on Friday afternoon, after school ends and before they leave for their trip. I kind of marvel at how many people she’s friendly with that she feels comfortable spending the weekend with. I’m so grateful that the hotel is so close and it will be easy to accomodate both of my daughters. All of my kids are very undemanding and appreciative of what they get, so it’s a pleasure to do things for them, and I’m really glad that I can make this happen for them, particularly for my 12 year old dd.
The plan is to drop them off on the way to the hotel, and then the other four women who are coming along with me and I will head off for a weekend of adult conversation. (It’s good I have a large van to hold everyone!) I am really, really looking forward to it! It’s already midnight, and since I’ll be leaving soon after breakfast, I really need to get myself packed up. I also have to take all the food I’ll need until Sunday afternoon when I get back, so I have plenty to still do until I’m ready to go! Since I’ll be doing the driving (though one friend offered to drive for me if I get tired), I also need to get a decent night’s sleep in (particularly since my toddler was throwing up last night so I didn’t get to sleep until after 3 am).
Have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll try to update you Sunday night. 🙂
Avivah
