It's Time for a Me-Day

Thursday morning I kissed the children, gave Asli instructions about lunch and naps (um, give them some lunch, and then naps, okay?), and stepped out of the front door.  I closed the heavy door on the sounds of children wailing, shouting good-bye, and quarreling, clicked the lock shut, and got into my car and drove away all by myself.

My life is mostly home-centered.  I school the children four days a week.  We hardly ever go to play-dates.  I run errands once a week.  My gym is standing right next to the computer I'm writing at.  Nobody goes to pre-school, we only go to the park on Saturdays, and we haven't gone to the library in months.

So I stay home a lot.  Which is perfectly fine with me - I like our house, I enjoy spending time with my children, and going somewhere else is just too much work for me.

But every now and then I have a Me-Day.  Thursday was a Me-Day, so I dressed up in clothes not suited to chasing children up and down three stories' stairs, blow-dried my hair, put on earrings that wouldn't be pulled out by Joseph, and even put on makeup.  By a little after ten I was at a friend's house for the monthly spouse's coffee.  I chatted with friends about Brandon's bid list, met a new addition to the mission, ate blueberry muffins, and never once had to put anyone's underwear on.

After the coffee, I went and got my hair cut and straightened.  While I was waiting for all sorts of foul-smelling chemicals to do very unhealthy things to my hair, I perused Elle and learned that white is now in along with very expensive dresses.  I chatted about living overseas and didn't once tell anyone to stop talking and eat their lunch.

I finished around three and drove through the Baku drizzle to home where I was greeted by cheering children (I'm really not kidding.  I guess they do say that absence make the heart grow fonder) and dinner, cooked by Asli.  We had dinner at five, after which I put Joseph to bed and sent everyone else upstairs to watch a movie until Brandon came home to put them to bed.  And then I set to altering a bag dress I had foolishly bought three weeks after Edwin's birth.  Around seven Kathleen came downstairs to give me a kiss and then went back upstairs when Brandon called her.  And when I was done, I went to bed.

Some days in my life are pretty crazy.  Most day have at least a few instances of crazy.  That's what happens when you stay home all day with four children.  These days aren't bad, but they definitely take a lot of work and patience and love to run smoothly.  So when I get the chance every now and then to have a Me-Day, I take it.

Often I think of my friends who don't have an Asli to feed their children, watch their children, and make dinner, and feel guilty.  Maybe I'm really not able to hack it in the Real World where people have to do horrific things like scrub their own toilets and take all of their chilren to the grocery store.  My sister in law is almost finished with eleven years of undergrad, medical school, and residency with four, then five, now six children in tow to single parent while her husband studied all hours of the night.  Could I do that?

Maybe I could, maybe I couldn't.  Right now, however, I don't have to.  Instead I get Me-Days.  After all, what's the good of living in a place with no Target or public libraries if you can't take advantage of the benefits every now and then?