Dinner, bath, and bedtime — the witching hours. The time I am casually watching the clock, anticipating bedtime.
The time I am typically on my own.
My husband does not work a typical 9 to 5 schedule, like many others. He doesn’t have Saturdays and Sundays off. He isn’t home every night. He’s a chef at a busy restaurant, and despite my wishes, the restaurant is not going to close on Friday and Saturday nights so I can have my husband home for dinner, bath, and bedtime (and maybe a little time for us to catch up with each other).
I am doing most nights solo. I do two childcare pickups, dinner, maybe baths, then bed. And, then… I relax. And daydream about the nights my husband is home and what we are going to do. Since he works on the weekends, we’ve developed a Wednesday night routine (one of his nights off) to maximize family time and productivity.
On Wednesday nights, my husband and the kids and I typically run errands and do dinner. We usually have a couple of things in mind that we need to purchase, and then we find a restaurant close to the stores and have dinner. These Wednesday night errand runs are not always fun, but they are time spent together, as a whole family. I look forward to these nights, and my boys do too. Even though we might be walking around a store for an hour, I can see how much everyone enjoys being together. This is our dedicated time to catch up, hang out, and get out of the house.
These random family nights make do during the school year, but things change when summer rolls around. Since I am a teacher, we are fortunate to be able to take full advantage of summer mornings before my husband goes to work. We are all home and awake together. During the mornings we can relax, go for a walk, play a couple rounds of Candy Land, and maybe even drink a full cup of coffee together. These mornings definitely make up for the Saturday and Sunday mornings we don’t have together.
Sometimes it feels like we’re the only ones who aren’t working typical daytime hours — we’re among the minority who don’t get weekends together, who rarely get to eat dinner together as a family. To you moms out there who do the exhausting evening routine without your partner, I feel you! Keep doing what you can to make the best of it, and savor those special times when everyone is together.
