Me, me, ME, it was all about MEEEEE.........

Warren & I just returned from a trip to Chicago.  A trip in which 6 things were missing.  Six beautiful, boisterous, wonderful, demanding things were missing from this grand adventure.  After several months of planning and debating and on again off again drama (they kept changing the date of Warren's meetings!)  Warren and I escaped, sans children for six glorious days.  Don't get me wrong, I adore my children.  I seldom leave them.  If you take out Matthew's hospital stays, I never leave them.  We have gone on little mini vacations 3 or 4 times by ourselves and it is just fantastic.  I know that sounds bad - like I am desperate to escape my life.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When I escape for a few days, I come back recharged, am more patient with the little people in my life, and feel more blessed than I did before I left.  Also, I think about them almost constantly while I am away.  It's so funny!  On Saturday we did something we had never done, despite many visits to Chicago and living there for 2 years.  We went and had lunch on the 95th floor of the Hancock building.  The views were amazing!  I know it's a touristy thing to do, but it was fun.  All I could think about, though, was that next time we are in Chicago as a family, I am bringing the boys (and girl, of course!) to lunch there.  They would go crazy with delight! :)

I can't tell you how rejuvenating it is to spend 6 days doing nothing - or whatever you like.  There was not a thought about whether we should eat at a certain restaurant because we were uncertain if they had highchairs.  There was no haggling about which movies to see.  There was no early morning wake up call (except the ones we requested from the front desk).  There WAS an obscenely expensive dinner at Charlie Trotters (not doing that again......), two movies in a ROW (how long has it been since you saw two movies back to back?), a midnight waffle house run at an all-night diner, 4 novels, and lots of shopping (my favorite thing, not so much for Warren, but he was a great sport).  Today was our first day back and I feel so happy and lucky and well-rested.  The little things that went wrong (lost luggage, almost missed our flight), are much easier to deal with because I had a break.  YAY! :)