My husband left me...but only for four days.
Indeed, last Thursday he packed up our children, an excess of luggage, bicycles, baseball equipment, and fishing poles and headed south. Don’t worry, our marriage is still sound. He took the kids on a mini trip to northeast Iowa, where he is originally from. It was a good time for a trip, just not one that involved me. The kids had not started swimming lessons yet, and Jackson was not about to miss baseball practice or games.
As for me, I was busy to the point of barely being home anyway. Work, a Chamber of Commerce golf tournament, the Fort Sisseton Festival, cattle branding, and a few frivolities of my own choosing kept me running all over creation.
When their trip became a reality, I will admit there was a small moment of rubbing my hands together and planning my “big empty house” weekend. I considered things like a new release movie in a distant city or a little getaway, but quickly decided I was already running enough. Instead, I told myself I would relax at home. Spoiler alert, that is not exactly what happened.
Thursday started with everyone trying to get out the door. I tried not to micromanage my husband. He is, after all, fully capable of packing and getting everyone loaded. Still, I could not resist sending a few “don’t forget” lists anyway. Hair accessories, summer reading books, baseball gloves, and all the essentials I was certain might otherwise be forgotten.
Then they were gone with only minimal help from me.
I worked a full day Thursday, and that is when the real “relaxation prep” began. I came home in a whirlwind and decided I needed to do everything possible to prepare for a perfectly restful weekend. Naturally, that meant I spent the evening like a human tornado. Chairs were moved, every room was picked up, laundry was flying, and floors were prepped for sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping.
Then came the outside chores. My husband usually mows, but I could tell the lawn was not going to wait four and a half days. So I decided to tackle it myself. I do not mind mowing, but we have a beast of a riding mower that I do not fully trust. I pushed it out of the garage because I avoid reverse whenever possible for safety reasons, got it going once, stopped, and then could not get it started again.
That led to a lovely five to ten minute phone call with my husband, where he coached me from hundreds of miles away while I argued with the mower and questioned all my life choices. Eventually, success. I got it running and knocked out the lawn, trimming and all.
After that, it was back inside for floors and finishing up the house reset. I told myself again that all of this chaos was actually in service of future relaxation, which at that point felt highly questionable.
Then I decided I would reward myself with a home cooked meal, something the kids would not normally eat and something I could enjoy with leftovers for the weekend. By then it was getting late and my energy was fading fast. The meal was great, but my big plan for relaxation, watching a movie, did not happen until well after 10 p.m.
At that point, I was so tired I stood through the last 10 minutes just to stay awake. I think I enjoyed the movie, but honestly I may have been asleep while standing.
The next few days followed a similar pattern. I tried to balance relaxation with productivity and somehow ended up accomplishing both and neither at the same time. There were moments of sitting down, followed immediately by noticing something that needed to be cleaned, fixed, or reorganized.
By Sunday, I did manage to go fishing and slow down a bit, so I will call that a partial success. Fresh air, a little quiet, and actual sitting still without a mental to do list felt almost suspicious.
Let’s just say this. As a mom and a busy woman, I am not entirely convinced I know how to relax properly anymore. Still, it was a good weekend, and I know my family had a great trip. Now I just look forward to seeing them again and watching the house I cleaned for four days get undone in about one hour.
