Missed

Last night I had another school council meeting. It was only our second meeting and it's the last one til the end of January (!!). I like being involved in something like this that gives me some insight into something and yet is not a major drain on my time.

Anyway, I'd told the kids that I should be home for bedtime and even though the meeting dragged on a bit... and I was a few minutes later than their usual bedtime... I came home to find them waiting up for me. I gave them some cuddles and put them to bed. Mallory was a bit teary as I did so. "Are you home now, Mom?" she said. I told her that I was and then she said, "Are you staying home, Mom?"

Break. My. Heart.

I don't have another business trip planned until May - I'm trying to skate by on a 'once a year' minimum - and I'm glad that I don't, because obviously, it messes with the kids. Thank goodness I am not in sales or some such thing.

That said, tonight... I have another meeting. This time, it's book club. And while it's not strictly *necessary* that I go, well, I haven't been for months and months. And I know I won't be going next month. And I finished the book this month. And I really liked it. So I am going to try to pop out and be back within an hour... kind of the best of both worlds.

(We went out on the weekend when the weather was nice and planted some snow crocuses in the lawn. I love the look of naturalized crocus, but I think Chad is a little leery. This is fair enough, because at the last house I planted daffodils around the base of a tree and Chad had a terrible time mowing around the knee-high foliage that was supposed to be left standing until, like, July. It looked great while they were flowering and terrible thereafter. But crocuses flower before the grass even starts growing, and its foliage can be mown over right away, and just looks like grass blades, anyway. I am hoping Chad will like it OK when he sees it or else I will be out there picking 90 crocus bulbs out of the ground in March.)