Before we begin, this is not a book review – I have heard it is a GREAT book, but I haven’t ready it yet! So if you are looking to hear more about the book, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, wrong place (but you can buy it here!).
This is a story about four moms, who desperately needed a break.
These four moms are probably not unlike you. They work hard at their jobs, they do laundry, they drive carpool, they do laundry, they cook dinner, they do laundry, they pack lunches, they do laundry, they clean the house and they do laundry…. did I mention, they do a lot of laundry. Don’t get me wrong, these moms LOVE their lives! They are blessed! They love love love their kids , love their husbands and wouldn’t trade their lives for anything… however (comma) they needed a break – they not only needed some “me” time, they needed some “we” time!
This “story” has real life characters, me being one of them… along with my dear friends, Julie, Maria & Robin. This was year two of our now yearly traditional “girls trip”! Before last year, I have never had a girls trip. I have talked about it, but it never came together. Well, it came together and I am going to share with you why this is so important for all of us!
We are mom’s (Dad’s don’t feel left you, you all work super hard, but I can only give my perspective because, well, I am a mom and not a Dad, absolutely no disrespect intended) – where was I, oh right, we are mom’s – often time, we are in the habit of putting everyone else first. Our needs usually come last. That’s okay – not complaining, just stating the facts! How many times have you been one foot out the door to do something and the phone rings – you see that number on the caller ID that makes your heart sink…. school. Your heart starts to beat a little faster, you prepare yourself for one of the possibilities – forgotten homework, missing snow pants or the dreaded puke (I am a vomiphobe – so this is the worst scenario for me!) You answer the phone and your child forgot something that they need for that day (thank goodness it isn’t puke! WIN) but if you go drop it off at school, you will be late for that (insert what you were going to do here) and will have to cancel…. what do you do…. DUH – you take the whatever your child needed to school! No brainer! We all do it, and we may not be jumping for joy, but we do it and readjust our day. How about the web of carpools – you know what I am talking about, child 1 has to be on one side of town, child 2 on the other, child 3 will be getting off of the bus – all at the same time. You get it figured out and then you get an email from child 1’s coach changing the time and place of practice!! How often is your laundry the last done, your TV show is on but so is (insert any random sporting event) or you convince yourself that the sparkles (gray) in your hair really aren’t that noticeable and can wait a few more weeks? Again, we all do and we are happy to do it, but sometime we need a little break.
As I mentioned, me and my girls went on our second girls trip. We wanted something thoughtless, something where everything was taken card of for us, but we also wanted something affordable. We found an amazing deal on a 4 night cruise! I have to tell you, the price was so good that we couldn’t have eaten 2 meals a day at a resort for what we paid for each day of our cruise and we had the most amazing balconies I have ever had on a cruise before (see pics below.)
Anyway – it was great! We spent four days just taking care of ourselves. We worked out every morning, watched movies on the pool deck (Dirty Dancing was by far the highlight – I mean seriously, what gets better than sitting in the sun, with your friends, having the pool attendant coming around bringing you drinks and spraying you with Evian AND watching Dirty Dancing – HEAVEN!!). We had breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks made for us AND we didn’t have to clean up after! We danced, had wine and cheese on our balcony, talked and most importantly we laughed – man did we laugh! But, we all missed our families.
Going on this girls trip made me realize a couple of important things. First, it is okay to take care of yourself once in a while – if I am happy and well rested, I am better at what I do, I came home refreshed and rejuvenated. Second, it is important to have good friends – everyone needs a social life – we need our friends to laugh with and play with and cry with. Those personal relationships and friendships mean so much and it is so easy for us all to get too busy for them – we need to make time for our friends, they are a crucial and important part of our lives. Third, it is okay for your family to be without you for a few days – it is good for the kids and good for your partner. The house will not fall apart if you are gone for a couple of days (it may be a little messy and trust me, you will have a lot of laundry to do when you get home – but it is all fixable!) Also, I know the rules are not as strict as when I am home, and that is okay, everyone needs a break from the rules once in a while, I did – and they did too. But most importantly, it is okay to be selfish once in a while – it is okay to put “me” before “you”.
It doesn’t need to be a cruise, or a weekend or even an overnight – it can just be a girls night out, a movie or coffee. Whatever you do, be sure to appreciate every moment you are there – don’t focus on what is going on at home, just enjoy and live in the moment. On our trip, we would stop periodically and take a mental picture – “click, click” was our reminder to ourselves to appreciate where we were, what we were doing and most importantly who we were with….. the girls! Who is coming with us next year??
Here are some of our “click, click” moments – hope you enjoy (I know I will)
P.S. To my girls – I love you! Thank you for sharing a very special couple of days – Ready for next year!!!
P.P.S – AND thank you to my husband, Adam, for giving me this great weekend – Love you, Honey!
P.P.P.S. – AND thank you to Adam’s mom for taking care of him while I was gone 🙂
I love this. What a great idea to take a cruise for your girls’ weekend so someone can take care of you for a change! We, moms, often feel so guilty taking time for ourselves, spending money on ourselves, but you are so right. It’s important. Glad you had the opportunity to go — and that you and the girls are committed to making it an annual tradition.
P.S. Those girls look like they could be your sisters, especially the one sitting next to you at the table!