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| Sleepyhead on Aisle 6! |
I need a beach day.
I live in a landlocked state with some gorgeous lakes and rivers and mountains, but I need a beach day. Nothing fancy or wild, just a lounge chair, bucket of cold drinks, a good book, and bare feet in the sand.
A lot of moms fantasize about this, because location is key. Think about it, when was the last time you felt overwhelmed or depressed at the beach? Never, that's what. Something about an endless stretch of sand and waves invites calm and reflection, and boy could this mama use some.
Until that day comes, I am doing my best to take little vacations where I can find them. Drinking coffee while the baby sleeps and the preschooler watches cartoons? Heaven. Both girls asleep while Daddy and I watch a grownup TV show? Bliss. Dinner and a movie with no kids in tow? Parent nirvana.
Yesterday my mom and the girls and I surprised my little sister on her 5-year sober anniversary. I was exhausted, the baby was holding a low-grade fever from teething, but I was determined to get my butt out of the house and have some fun for a change. She and her girlfriend have a tropical Hawaiian hand soap that smelled like coconut, fruit, salt water, and I swear sunscreen. For a blessed minute, I was on a beach baking in the sun with a fruity drink in my hand.
And then we went to Chuck E. Cheese.
I haven't been there since the late 80's, and all I remember is the creepy robot animals in the stage show. We had a good time, aside from the pervasive smell of cheap cheese and grease. The games are a LOT more sophisticated than the ones I remember, but it was still fun to see Evie going nuts and making friends with every kid she ran across.
You know what they still have there? Skee-ball! I sucked at that as a kid, and I am AWESOME at it now. I could've done it for hours, feeding token after token into the machine like a slots junkie in Vegas.
But eventually the kiddos got tired, and I had to leave my beloved Skee-ball and start the hour and a half drive home. The first 30 minutes of which were dominated by a screaming tantrum from the little girl pictured above. (Trust me, she wasn't nearly this cute. I wanted to slap her multiple times across the face.) In the middle of my exhaustion and frustration, I went numb. I wanted to pull over, get out of the car, and sit by the side of the highway until things got better.
It's not the single meltdown that gets to you when you're a parent. It's the accumulation of days, weeks, months of it, until finally one just beats you down to nothing. Hence, my need for a beach day. No kids, not even my husband, just me, my thoughts, and sandy toes. But since that would require at least 12 hours of driving, the best I can do for now is hide in the bedroom and confess all this to you.
If you're reading this, that is.
