Operation Single Mom!

Just for fun, because our daily life isn't crazy enough, we decided to conduct a little experiment this week by having Shawn fly to Las Vegas for the week for an IBM conference (I know--you were thinking, "wow! Shawn is going to Vegas--cool", then you hear the IBM conference part and you're left with "oh"). I know many husbands travel for their work all of the time. However, I feel we are to be given a little extra sympathy here for a number of reasons. Most families I know who have a travelling Daddy are a little different from ours. Most of the time, the wives don't work, the number of kids is generally 3 or less, and they aren't involved in the scope and sequence of activities that our kids are. Plus, our kids just are NOT used to either of us being gone. We don't travel without them. In nine years, we have not been on a vacation without the kids, so they just aren't used to it. These would probably have been good things for me to consider yesterday, before I decided it would be a great idea to take the kids to the airport to "see Daddy off". We parked on the roof of the airport so we could see his plane take off, we walked him into the airport and watched him check in, we ate in the airport restaurant, and then walked him to security at his gate. All was good until this point. The kids were all smiles, and having a great time, then Daddy had to leave. At this point, I was pretty sure we were going to be escorted out the door by airport security for "inciting panic". They all started to cry, Dax repeating the "are you gonna die?" question, (which really helped Shawn with the whole "flying on an airplane anxiety), Delaney just cried loudly, like she does everything, Dawsyn was dramatically crying and stating how humiliating it was that her father was just leaving her for no good reason, and Drake just kept putting his chubby little hands up and crying "Da-Da". Drew, who refused to cry, just kept taking off his glasses and saying that his eyes itched. I must admit that the scene of crying and kids hugging and hanging off of Daddy, added to the very worried, conflicted look in Shawn's eyes, caused me to get a little teary-eyed. Shawn finally peeled the last kid of off him, plastering them onto me, then walked through the gates. We stood and watched while he waited in line to go through security. Other passengers (who had just witnessed the scene) were patting his back supportively. When we could no longer see him, we walked back to the front of the airport where I pointed out the electronic signs that kept track of the arrivals and departures and told the kids that on Friday, we would be back looking at the "arrival" screen and be very excited to be getting Daddy back. We then went back to the parking garage roof and waiting to watch his plane take off. Once again, the kids seemed to like this until the plane actually left the ground and then the crying started again. They all fell asleep on the drive home, and the evening was kept pretty busy getting things ready for the school week. However, when darkness of night came, I had 5 pairs of very big eyes looking at me, sure that they would not be able to go to sleep without Daddy. Since I knew they could not stay up until midnight when he could call and say he was there, we found his flight on an on-line tracker and watched as it made its progress across the country. This morning, I got up early, worked out, got my shower, and got the kids up and ready for school. I was pretty proud of my organization and the general ease with which I was able to get 5 kids up, dressed, organized, and out the door by 6:30 all on my own. On the way to the sitter's I was feeling pretty confident in myself. I should have known! We were about ten minutes away from the sitter's house when Drake started throwing up all over himself and the van! Happy Single Mom Monday! One thing I will say is that I have truly gained a new respect for single moms, and those whose husbands go away for long lengths of time--and it hasn't even been a complete 24 hours!