The Rewards of Motherhood

I woke up to glorious quiet today. No one fighting over spots on the couch, no one changing the channel from PBS kids' shows to boring news, no one poking me awake to reattach an arm to a disfigured Lego man. I did hear one sweet little voice calling "Mom?" from her crib at 8:45, but I was awake by then - I woke up on my own! - so I didn't mind getting up.

This weekend is the annual Fathers and Sons campout, which is my reward for having three boys. As a person with a fairly independent personality, you can't blame me for looking forward to a whole night to myself. It was just me and Darcey, and we could do whatever we wanted. We could have gone out to dinner, gone to a movie, hit the mall, anything. It was party time, girls only!

Partying? Not so much. You can take away 3/4ths of my responsibilities, but you can't stop be from being responsible, I guess. No, instead of partying with my little girl, I put her to bed at 8:00 and stayed up until midnight writing a paper about health care reform for my final business class. Ironically, the same topic that kept me awake last week kept threatening to put me to sleep when it came time to actually write about it.

I did do my share of whimsical things last night, just because I could. Darcey and I watched episodes of Design Star on HGTV.com. She fluffed my hair and I combed hers. I helped her change shoes many, many times. Later, I went to the bathroom without locking the door. I know, crazy! That's how I let loose around here! Plus, I ate ice cream at 7:00 while sitting at the dining room table, instead of hiding in my bedroom!

If Fathers and Sons is my reward for having three boys, it's Ryan's punishment for the same thing. He Hates camping, with a capital H. Hates it. He has a hard enough time sleeping in a comfy, climate-controlled bedroom, so putting him in a sleeping bag on the ground in the mountains can't be a good idea. Well, if you're trying to punish him, I guess it's a great idea, but it's supposed to be fun. The boys will have an absolute blast, and that's why Ryan goes, although he grumbles about it and takes any minor scheduling conflict as an opportunity to revisit whether they really have to go this year.

The boys will all be home soon and my peaceful girls' weekend will be over. We didn't even have time to paint each other's toenails, but we can always save that for next year. It'll be my reward for surviving another year with three boys.