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.
