Jose just got back from 9 days in Moscow which means that Emma and I officially completed our longest stint ever without daddy around! He was originally supposed to take this trip back in October, but the government shut down cancelled it. My plan then was to take Emma to Charlotte for the week, and our tickets were non-refundable, and so Jose got a last minute ticket and was able to come with us. But when his trip finally got reschedule, there was no running for the hills — or the grandparents — this time. Emma and I were sticking it out in Houston!
In what is apparently a typical reaction for me, before he left I spent far too much time worrying about how I would deal without his help. But since Jose was a bit nervous about the big trip himself, I tried to keep those thoughts to myself and stay positive — which wasn’t too difficult because I really was excited for him. I have wanted to go to Russia ever since I started working on space station stuff! But since I haven’t had the opportunity yet, I’m glad he did.
Since NASA people travel to Moscow on a regular basis, Jose had some amenities available that your average traveler wouldn’t have. The agency has some sort of contract with a hotel that allows them to have “wired rooms” — so he had access to a NASA computer and printer and, most importantly, a phone he could use to call any US number without worrying about long distance fees. The time difference is 9 hours, but we were able to talk a couple times each day — once when he woke up in the morning and I was going to bed, and once when he was going to bed and I was nearing the end of my day at work. Being able to hear how his day went and tell him what Emma and I had done was great.
And of course despite my anxiety, things were fine here in Houston. Jose left early Saturday morning and returned late Sunday night, so in addition to the work week Emma and I had two full weekends to ourselves. We filled the first one with the annual parent work day at daycare, a walk around the neighborhood with a stop at the playground, our weekly grocery store trip, and hanging out with Cindy and Jake at the Moms of League City festival (where Emma had her tramopline fun). The weekdays went by quickly thanks to the familiar routine of daycare, work, home, dinner, bathtime and bed. And this past weekend was similarly full with the Yuri’s Night 5K (our first race together!) and a little friend’s 2nd birthday party on Saturday followed by more errands and a lot of playing around the house yesterday.
While I think I’ll probably always feel slightly panicked by the thought of solo parenting, it’s also nice to know that I can survive and even thrive during those times — even though they are fortunately few and far between. Emma is an energetic toddler but she’s also a really good kid. I’m proud of us both for rocking the past 9 days.
I dont mean to be rude at all, but what you did is what HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of women do every day as a single mom and/or having a dead beat dad. I don’t consider this something to be so over the moon about. Take into account they have a lot less creature comforts too. I just found this post to be off-putting.
Oh I hear you! And you know, I thought about that a lot over the past week, and certainly didn’t intend to disrespect single moms and dads. But at the end of the day, this is just a personal blog and all I can do is talk about life from my own perspective. I usually have Jose’s help, so doing it on my own for several days was a different experience for me.
Wow, 9 days. Congrats on getting through it! That would definitely stress me out! I think it is a lot harder without having any family around.
As for single moms, yeah, that’s gotta be really hard. But that doesn’t mean 9 days alone isn’t hard, too.
I feel it is not accurate to say that Saroy was in some way critical of single moms. That did not come across to me at all. Apprehensive at first, she then enjoyed her one-on-one week with her daughter, at the same time being excited for her husband’s adventure. She did not say it in words but as a reader, I came to my own conclusion that, while solo time with a daughter or son is good, two-parent families are best for children. Some, like June, may feel differently, but it’s kinder to draw your own conclusion without being accusatory.