Run Away

We’re always told that we shouldn’t run away from our problems, that we should courageously face them head on. Well this weekend I ran away. And loved it. In fact, I recommend everyone runs away once in a while!

Perhaps I should provide a little context before you decide you are ready to join the circus. Like many parents, I struggle with finding a good balance between work and home life. In our house “good work-life balance” is a myth and we seem to swing wildly from work focused to home focused, throwing equilibrium out the window! Anyone relating? For me, it was important that I stay home with my girls as much as I could while they were young, so whole my oldest is now in full-time public school, my 18 month old goes to daycare just once a week. With a long to-do list piling up, an extra long holiday weekend wiping out my daycare day and a conference taking up any work time the following weekend, I decided to run away!

I found a fantastic deal on Hotwire at a posh downtown hotel, packed up my laptop and settled in for 3 days and nights of peaceful, productive, uninterrupted work (and sleep)! It was heaven. For the first time in my life, I actually checked off every single thing on my to do list! Not to mention the luxury of eating my meals, going to the bathroom and showering with nary a whine at the door. Don’t get me wrong, I desperately missed my munchkins the moment I opened the door to my suite but now I get to go home rested, relaxed and eager to see them and able to give them 100% of my attention for 2 blissful school and work free days, without my mind wandering to the looming to-do list or trying to squeeze ‘just-one-more-thing’ into nap times. Just as I have enjoyed the uninterrupted work time, I will cherish the uninterrupted family time.

Now if only someone would come and check off my home to do list, I would be totally free. I mean, those dishes won’t wash themselves!