My lovely husband, knowing that I have been lonely and feeling smothered by being a stay at home mom, gave me the most wonderful Christmas gift. He bought me a plane ticket to Memphis, TN to spend 3 whole days with my BFWW. Three whole days without the responsibility of caring for my children. Three whole days of not picking up my house to turn around and find a mess in another room. And as it turns out, three whole days of not cleaning up vomit in the middle of the night and doing lots and lots of laundry.

I flew out on Wednesday night. After several serious delays, I finally arrived in Memphis at midnight. BFWW and I collected my one bag - ONE relatively small bag filled with only MY stuff - not anyone else's stuff - and were back at her house to chat for a few minutes before heading to bed at 1am.

The next three days were spent talking. Literally. The entire 3 days. We ran out of saliva. We never turned the tv on, never had a silent pause where we tried to think of something to say. When I first got there I had wondered if we would be staring at each other with nothing to say by Saturday afternoon. I guess it had been too long since we'd spent quality time together because by Saturday afternoon I felt like we were just getting started - and then I had to leave.

We did abandon our couches for very brief periods of time to grab a meal... Thursday night we had chinese at PeiWei and I ate my entire meal with chopsticks - first time for that! I also told Elise a secret - that she had been a very good girl at the restaurant. Then she told me a secret - that I had eaten my food very well. And she told BFWW a secret - that she drank her drink really well. And then we headed to the grocery store for ice cream and beer. Back to our perches on the couch until 1am.

Friday we had had breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner. BFWW surprised me with a talent that even she didn't know she had - I will refrain from sharing so as not to embarrass her (I've already done enough mockery;) In the afternoon we made our way to Michael's so I could buy some knitting supplies. She had started knitting and knit her very own scarf. It was so cute and she did such a great job that I got inspired to knit my own. We spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to pick out yarn for my scarf... I finally walked out with some gray for an everyday scarf & some red for a little dressier scarf.

At night we went out for sushi with some of her friends. Again, a first for me. And I am severely disappointed that I probably will never have sushi again since Cornbread won't go with me. It was AWESOME! Lets just say: Sushi = delicioso!

And back to our perches until 1am.

Saturday we knit together for a while and then went out for lunch at Costa Vida, where I apparently picked up the scent of the kitchen because Cornbread told me on Sunday that I smelled like Mexican food when he picked me up;) And then it was on to the Memphis Zoo. We were just about the only guests at the zoo because it was pretty cold. There weren't many animals there, but we were able to see their two pandas, the fish, Chompy the alligator, a gigantic reticulated python - AND three tigers that apparently thought Elise was their prey since every time they caught sight of her they started stalking toward us. The tigers were pretty creepy, but fascinating all at the same time. I suppose if they had been stalking MY child I would have wanted to get out of there, too.

My flight landed in Chicago around 7:45pm. I was really happy to see my family. To be honest, I didn't really miss them. Of course I love them and enjoy being home, but I was enjoying myself a little too much and didn't miss the responsibility aspect at all. I really enjoyed playing with and getting to know Elise - and not being responsible for her. I really enjoyed having grown up conversations about anything and everything. I really enjoyed going out to eat for meals and not having to make meals for other people. I enjoyed doing grown up things. I enjoyed not having to abide by everyone else's schedules. And I enjoyed not having to put children in a car seat every time I got into and out of the car. It was a wonderful weekend.

And then on the way home, as a way of saying, "Hi mommy - I missed you so much and I'm so glad you're home" Nora threw up three times in the back seat of the car when we were approximately 3 minutes away from home. Since Cornbread had been cleaning up vomit the entire time I was away (Ryann), I offered to clean out the car and let him relax. It was lovely.

I miss my BFWW. I so wish she didn't live so far away. There is not another friend in my life that I can spend 3 days with like that. We talk about everything. We don't necessarily agree on everything, but we can have great discussions about it. She is inspiring to me in many ways - her generosity, her heart for connecting other women, her desire to do better and to be better than she already is, her love for God, her love for her husband and her daughter, her patience with her 3 year old. Seriously, I love this woman. And I love my Cornbread for being thoughtful enough to send me away - and being willing to put himself in my shoes for 3 days.

I am loved.