I Like When My Husband Travels for Work

I was telling one of my best friends the story of my morning the other day.  I went into my daughter’s piggy bank (well her’s is actually a monogrammed alligator bank), and counted out $4 in nickels and dimes so she could order lunch at school. No decent food in the house. No cash in my purse. We had to get to school and were already running behind schedule. Raiding her alligator bank at 6:30 am was not the worst part. Walking into the classroom with my 1-year-old son on my hip, I whispered to the teacher’s assistant that my daughter was SO excited to purchase her own lunch with her piggy bank money. It was definitely my idea, not her’s. At that point in relaying the story to my friend, she said, “Aren’t there mom tell-all books about stuff like this?”

So…that NEVER would have happened if my husband wasn’t out of town. I enjoy when my husband travels for work. Is that bad? Now, I know plenty of women who’s husbands are gone for weeks out of every month. My situation is not like that. Maybe one or two nights every month he is gone, and I can be a little lazier than I would normally be. He is a wonderful, loving, non-judgmental husband. A lot of the wifely, motherly, striving for perfection is because I want it, not because he cares at all. But, for some reason when he is gone, I feel like it’s ok to slack off on my domestic duties. The B game mom in play.

I loathe packing lunches. Laundry, fine. Bath time, great. Cooking and cleaning up dinner, all gravy. Packing lunches, awww heck no. I secretly loved breastfeeding and pumping milk for my son every morning when it was time to get my daughter ready for school. Daddy lunch duty! I honestly didn’t even care what he packed.

Paper Plates for Dinner.

We are obviously eating PDQ, Chick-Fil-A or Publix chicken. Now that I’m thinking about it, why all chicken options, I’m not sure. My husband does like chicken so not quite sure why every time he leaves we eat chicken like it’s our last chance. Paper plates are also a necessity!

Bath time is pretty standard whether he is home or not.

A Bedmate that’s Not My Husband.

Bed time is another story. My 1-year-old son will be sleeping in his crib, like usual.  My 5-year-old daughter will beg to sleep in the master bedroom with me. I will let her. I will also bribe her with a 30 minute TV show in the bedroom if she promises to go to sleep after. 

Bravo. Enough Said.

Kids are in bed, check. What does mom do? Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir? Why not. Currently on a break from wine for Lent, but that’s a whole different blog post. It’s spring. Cadbury Creme Egg? Yes please.  I can tell you for certain that all of those DVR shows that my husband despises will be playing, probably until 11pm or so while I work in my office doing embroidery. My current garbage TV show choices are Summer House, Girlfriends Guide to Divorce and Vanderpump Rules. Pretty much anything on Bravo. I would say This is Us, but that one never gets any saved episodes because I obsessively watch it right away.

Sometimes, it feels good to be lazy and not be on my A-game at home. So, I said out loud what a lot of wives would only think to themselves. I probably owe my daughter at least a $5 bill to put into her alligator bank. It’s nice to have just me and the kids at home once and a while. I like it when my husband travels for work. But, do you know what I love? When he comes back home to complete our family. That beats school lunch and Bravo any day.