A Mama's Dream Come True?

Last Friday, something happened to me that hasn't happened in sixteen years.

I was alone.  At home.  I was home alone!

I had put my husband on a plane to Detroit on Wednesday, put my two teenagers on a church bus to New York on Thursday, and then I put my youngest two in a suburban making its way to church camp on Friday.

It was just me and the dog for a whole 24 hours.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've never had any "get away" time.  I've gone away on mission trips, I've gone away for a weekend with my husband, and I've even gone away on a personal sabbatical.  But, to be at home all by myself?  It hadn't happened since the oldest child was born.  As a mother who homeschools during the junior high years, I haven't even had the daytime hours alone at home yet.  And I have to admit, it was something I've dreamed about a few times.  Everyone in the office kept asking me what I was going to do with myself.  I didn't have trouble figuring it out.

I went to lunch, by myself, and ended up chatting for half an hour with a woman I had never met.

I drove to the drive in and got myself a sweet tea.  And then I drank it all by myself, without one person asking for a sip.

I drove twenty miles away and went shopping in what my kids call a "foo-foo" store, browsing house wares and jewelry and garden décor for an hour, with no one asking me when we were going to leave.

I picked up frozen Chinese food at the supermarket and took it home to eat--in front of the television, something I never allow the kids to do.

I took a hot bath without one time having to shout, "Mom's in here!  You'll have to wait!"

I read an entire novel until the wee hours of the morning.

I woke up late and drank my coffee on the back porch in complete silence.

And after all this bliss, do you know what I did? 

I checked the clock, saw I was to pick up my husband at the airport in less than an hour, and praised God that I would only be alone for a few more minutes.  And then I counted up how many hours until all my chicks would be back in the nest, and felt my heart leap for joy.

I think I'm good for another sixteen years.