I interrupt my heartfelt reminiscing about our Christmas at home … with a trip to London!  This evening I’ll be flying over to meet a friend for a girls’ weekend.  We’re going to see a show, take in as many sights as we can, do the Harry Potter tour and probably have a pint in an actual pub (though Pam will probably opt for a glass of wine).

It is my very first time doing anything like this since I’ve been a mom.  It will be the first time I’ve ever spent the night away from Liam, and the first time I’ve ever been away from either of them overnight just for fun (I came to Vienna from the US for a weekend before we decided to move here — before Liam was born — and was away from B overnight when Liam was born).  So this is really strange for me.

I’m half thrilled and half anxious.  I’m struggling to comprehend traveling on my own and am already feeling how much I’m going to miss my boys.  I can’t wait to see my good friend and explore an exciting city together and I’m hoping the boys have so much fun having their guys’ weekend with Dan that they barely notice I’m gone.  This all feels very grown up and sophisticated.  There’s really no way to say, “I’m meeting a girlfriend in London for the weekend” without sounding very fancy.  But I don’t *feel* more grown up or fancier than usual, so it does seem a bit strange.

It’s a little weird to me that I’m going so far away for my first weekend away.  But I think that’s because it’s an international flight — really, though, it’s only a 2 1/2 hour trip.  I’m not actually going that far.  In a way, it’s probably good that there’s a plane ride between me and my boys — it will help to discourage any middle of the night urges to just go home (though I do expect that the desire will still surface).

The boys keep asking who is coming to stay with them.  We keep reassuring them that Dan will be here the whole time.  At first, I thought they were confused (why would Mommy go and Daddy stay?) but I got the impression today at lunch that they understand just fine that it’s only me who is going — they just want to know who ELSE is coming to take care of them.  They keep asking if our downstairs neighbor (our regular babysitter) is coming over to take care of them (which came from a conversation where Dan & I were discussing that she’s offered to be “on call” in case he needs help at any point).  They just can’t seem to quite accept that it’s going to be JUST them and Daddy this weekend.  (That’s ok — I’m not sure I can quite accept it either!)

So off I go to live it up for 62 hours in London.  I’m sure we’re going to have a great time and make some fantastic memories.  I guess it’s the consequence of being a mom, but some of the things I’m looking forward to the most are some of the simplest — sleeping all night (maybe even sleeping past 7:00 in the morning!) and being able to choose restaurants based on what I want to eat.  That, plus spending time with a good friend, should make it an excellent weekend.  (It remains to be seen whether I’ll be able to relax, or if I’ll spend the majority of the time worrying about what’s happening at home!)