Alright, if a share of you know me – I’m normally a pretty sane, reasonably intelligent guy who seems to like to race his bike alot in his spare time. Well, also having a family & young kids that situation can be challenging sometimes. Fortunately, my wife Kate and I, have work pretty well in supporting each others goals and trading off responsibilities.
Well, for the support she’s offered me in my racing & taking care of the kids over the past 7+ years -- this fall, it only seemed right that I give her a something more than a just the normal break….. not sure if I was entirely thinking clearly at the moment I put it out there, perhaps I was in a state of heighten euphoria or delirium from some racing or training effort…. Note to self – try and think more clearly next time before putting things out there…
The break? 9 day trip to Hawaii. With yours truly taking on full & sole responsibility for the 4 kids at home – ages 7, 5, 3 yrs, along with a 8 month old. Ok, most of you would have probably right there said “Yep, Swanson’s lost it. Check him into the mental ward, right now.” Perhaps in the past now 6 days since she’s left I’ve had that thought cross my mind, so you’re not alone.
But you know everyone needs a break sometimes. I’m very content having some down time of a few hours in an afternoon or a day to do my own thing on a weekend. If I have that regularly I’ve never needed some big getaway. Kate on the other hand, being such a “mom” to truly escape and have a break really needs to break loose. So for the 9 years or so of putting up with me, believe me that’s not easy, a 9 day trip didn’t seem too far fetched….. wait did I mention the age of the kids?
Yeah, so it’s been quite a ride of it’s own lately. The interesting parts are the amazing compliments you get from other "moms” & women who hear about it. I’m sorta shocked when they like genuinely share how cool they think that is or the state of disbelief they display – like “you did what?!” You’re coolness factor in that department goes through the roof apparently. ANd on the other side from the male/father/husband perspective who either think, I’m nuts, stupid and if nothing else certainly setting a bad precedence. You get damned in that department. Oh well.
Also in a general survey most people give it less than a 25% chance she’s even coming back. (hey, I can’t blame ‘em I’m not entirely sure I would). So if you never see another blog posting after this one it’s true she probably didn’t come back.. as I don’t know how I’m squeezing this one in.
Somehow I’ve survived though and the kids too… so far. Far less sleep than I’m accustom to, far more running around and the constat little day in, day out tasks to tackle.
In it all however I got some super help from my sister and from a wonderful friend or two – that I was able to pull off doing something I love as well -- a MTB race in the middle of this whole thing too! How cool is that!? It was this past weekend’s DeerFly Chase MTB race, I’m going to recap how it went alittle later, but an awesome end of the season race! Great guys there and well put together for a newer trail system and first time race. Way to go to CORC, Noah Michaelsen & his crew of volunteers.
The tough part also was I got a bad head cold the day Kate left and have lost my voice on & off over this past week. I probably look & sound every bit as beat up as the task I’ve endeavored to be on. Not to mention the broken ribs still aren’t close to 100% so there’s certain required tasks taking care of kids that makes that part challenging too.
In all, a couple things to take from it – a healthy dose of respect & understand comes from putting yourself completely in someone else’s shoes, no matter what the work load is. Try and do that for someone sometime, don’t take for granted what your spouse, mom or anyone has done for you. You gain a valuable insight for not just that person but many others as well. More than ever now I hugely admire anyone who’s had to be the primary care taker of young child.
Stepping out of your comfort zone is not easy, but you learn some great things about yourself and find out things you didn’t think you had in you….some good and some not so but but still valuable.
Only a couple days left, as Kate comes back late Friday night. In case anyone is looking for me… I think I’ll be sleeping all weekend…
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