"Girls Weekend"

Well, I'm not home this weekend...I know, you all miss me! HAH! That's doubtful considering I know 99% of the people who read this blog. I'm "away" in Madison at a residency program for Grad School and actually I am really enjoying myself! For the first time in FOREVER I have a hotel room to myself! And honestly, we were thinking about bringing the kids here so that I could spend time with Pat and the kids during free time. But really, the amount of CRAP that would have had to come with us and them in order to keep everyone happy would have been ASTRONOMICAL!! So, yes, I'm alone in a hotel with a bar in it and some really great people!
We spend the day, from 9 to 5, in classes with a few breaks in the middle and then we have dinner and we're done by 6pm. It's really very nice...the classes are a bit long and can get tedious but other than that...not too bad!
I don't feel like a mom this weekend except for the fact that I'm surrounded by other moms! It's strange because we're doing our very best to avoid "mommy talk". You know, the conversation that goes something like this...
Me: Oh, you have kids? (after a sideways mention by someone that they are so happy that their husband is getting a taste of having the kids alone)
Them: Yes, ....insert any number here from 1 to 4. What about you?
Me: Yup, 2 of them...insert names and ages here.
Them: Oh, that's great! Do you miss them?
Me:.....OF COURSE I Miss them! I mean, I do...I mean, well...I mean, I haven't been in a hotel room alone since....well...never. But, yeah I miss them! Seriously, I really do. What about you?
Them: Oh, yeah yeah, miss them.....(to the bartender) could I have another Jack and diet, please? So, you have an infant? Are you still nursing?
Me: No, my daughter has digestion problems and I have medication that I don't want to pass on to her. (To bartender) I'll have Jack and Ginger please. (Back to Them) I nursed for a bit, she was preemie....blah blah blah....are you nursing?
Them: Yes....(lavishly sipping drink)...actually I'm pretty sure pumping and dumping will be the phrase of the weekend for me! Hah!
Enter third person...new kids...new stories...new drinks...this, with the exception of class, has been the weekend thusfar! And you know what? It's been GREAT! Seriously....these, mainly women, have just been AWESOME! Mommy talk really is at a minimum. We're grownups. We're women who really haven't been out all that much in awhile. We're wives who love our husbands but who are thrilled to know that our husbands are spending "quality time with the kids" this weekend. We're training to be counselors, so we're amazing listeners. We're everything that each of us could want in each other and sadly, we'll have to walk away from each other on Sunday.
Luckily for me, I've found a few really great women who are all completely different. One is married with a baby, one is engaged, and one is single and it is the PERFECT mix for all of us. It's like we came together this weekend to meet each other. We've been learning how to listen, yes that's right, learning how to listen- but as therapists, not moms or wives or friends or anything else. We're learning how to be therapists and this is best therapy I've had in a REALLY long time! I could say I wish I had found them sooner but I don't know that the connect would have been there if I had...we weren't who we were supposed to be before this.
I tried to find humor in this weekend and believe me it's there...or here, I should say, but my kids aren't here, I do miss them a lot, but they're my humorous inspiration...usually. I did just hang up the phone with my husband who informed me that he made chocolate chip cookies with Nicholas and without brown sugar...YUCK...and that he missed me...he really missed me and when I said he only misses me because there's no one else there to tag team the kids, he didn't deny it!
So, I'm going to enjoy my classes tomorrow and Sunday and I'm going to enjoy my time with these people and relish every single moment of it because I may not get the chance again for a really long time! And that's ok...it makes me appreciate this and them that much more! It's like a "forced" girls weekend with strangers who are like best friends.
And yes, there are men here and they are just as friendly and funny as the women but they seem to stay in one group as if they're afraid of us....go figure!
Enjoy your weekend and don't forget the brown sugar...it makes everything a little sweeter!