Yesterday, I boarded a plane bound for Chicago. I didn't check a bag or have "infant in arms" printed on my boarding pass. I drank a Diet Coke in my seat and closed my eyes for a few winks of shut-eye. Tory stayed back in Minnesota.
I traveled to Chicago for my first work meeting out of town. I wasn't nervous to leave Tory, not at first, as I knew she'd be in good hands with Grandma Janie and our nanny, Manda. Andi's traveling for work this week too, of course, so I coordinated pick-ups and drop-offs and left lots of notes for Tory's care while I was away. But the morning I left Tory woke up at 3AM in big-time teething pain. As I rocked her back to sleep, the worry of leaving her started to set in. I knew she's be just fine without me but what if something happened, what if she needed me and I wasn't there. It's a lot of pressure to place on Janie and our nanny to care for her completely while her parents are away.
My alarm buzzed at 4AM (of course, I hadn't been able to fall back asleep after being up with Tory the hour before). The nanny arrived at our house at 5AM and I left for the airport. Watching all the early, early news shows on television in the morning reminded me being pregnant all those months ago. I don't miss starting my days in the middle of the night. I forgot how lonely it is to be awake at that time of day.
It was different traveling without her. We have our airport travel system down now and I'm used to engaging with toys, readying a bottle, walking the airport hallways keeping a certain miss someone happy. The last two days have been all about me and it's different for a change. I don't travel much for work, and I'm not sure if I really all that interested in doing it in the future. But I am excited to spend a few days away, just Andi and I, this summer for our wedding anniversary. I guess I had to pull the Band-aid off eventually and everyone survived our first overnight away just fine.
Good work! Leaving your kids for the first overnight is tough, I still remember when I did it with Allie... and, um, she was 23 months... but, it was still really hard and as much fun as I had away from her, I still worried about her all the time while I was gone. Glad to hear you guys are planning an anniversary trip too! We are hoping to travel to Europe once Jake is weaned and I can't wait to have a trip with just me and the husband. We haven't done that since before we had kids, so it's long overdue!
ReplyDeleteI remember the first business trip after Margaret was born. She was 10 or 11 months. It definitely gets easier - poor Paul has had to deal with Mommy being gone a lot. He's 11 months and I've gone on two (weekend) vacations and three business trips. Sorry, second kid!
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