The Reunion

Part I:
In which 6 college friends gather for their annual Girls' Weekend . . .

And it really was everthing I'd been looking forward to since, oh, the birth of Jemma. Or maybe since we all said good-bye last year after frolicking around Charlotte, NC. At any rate, there's nothing like spending good, quality time with a group of people who have known you since before you knew your husband. This is the 6th consecutive year that we've set aside a weekend for each other and it's so important to me that I can't imagine ever giving it up.

As usual, we ate too much, slept too little, and talked almost constantly. Also, we got to do something that I realized is one of the little lost pleasures from college: get ready in the morning with other girls. I love Jason, love being married to him and living with him, but getting ready next to a boy is just not the same. It was a treat to hang out in towels and talk while drinking coffee and doing make-up with girls!

So here's the breakdown by the numbers:

0 - pictures taken. Inexcusable. Better next year, right, gang?
1 - confirmed pregnancy among us
2 - lovely restaurant meals we enjoyed without cutting food into tiny pieces for toddlers
3 - times I called Jason to check up on the family
4 - number of us who had to rev up the breast pump every few hours to keep the milk a-flowin'
5 - average hours of sleep per night
6 - pints of Ben & Jerry's out on the counter at midnight last night
7 - approximate hours spent standing around Connie's kitchen island, pretending we were going to stop eating any minute . . .
8 - more years until we're fairly confident that we'll all be done having children and can plan a 15th anniversary bash at a luxury spa in the desert
9 - children we left with others (for the record: Annie, Ben, Greta, Rowan, Amelia, Isaac, Jemma, Sam, and Wyatt)
10 - (at least) times the conversation came around to future baby names. Pathetic.

I feel mentally refreshed, emotionally recharged, and grateful for the support and acceptance of people who know me so well. Can't wait to do it again, over and over and over.


Part II:
In which I am reunited with my family . . .

And discover that they did, indeed, survive without me. Jemma rebelled against the very first bottle, barely choking down 1/2 ounce, and then went on to take 3-4 oz each time, happily, and sleep like a champ. Annie has suddenly become 0h-so-very grown-up and takes showers at night instead of baths (!), enjoys playing Trivial Pursuit (with made-up questions such as, "What does a cow say?"), and answers the phone. I missed them exactly the right amount, and now I'm ready to jump back into the Mommy mode with renewed tolerance, energy, patience, and positive attitude.

And the fact that, when I returned at noon today, everyone was still in pajamas and the house was less-than-perfect? I didn't really even care. I just wanted to eat Jemma's cheeks and smell Annie's hair and sit on the couch and talk. I did, and now I'm very, very happy.