Swinging from the Chandelier

So you might think, based on the title, that this post will be about some crazy monkey toddler climbing antics. But you'd be wrong!! It's actually a post about me and the chandelier is figurative - even if there was a literal one, there's no way I'd be nimble enough to swing from it. Although I'm sure it would be funny to watch me try...but I digress.

Yesterday morning, Daisy had an appointment at the dog groomer. She goes from looking perfectly fine to looking like a mop head in around 3 days, so even though I normally I bring her during the week, when they gave me an appointment for a Sunday, I took it. So just after breakfast, I loaded her up and waved goodbye to Stephan and the kids.

Now, Daisy has never been good in the car, but as she has gotten older it's become even worse. She whimpers and tries to crawl onto my lap the whole time. Which is justifiable, since she knows she is either going to the groomer or the vet, and neither of those places are very fun when you're a dog - poor pooch :(

Anyhow, in the confusion of getting out the door, and the crappy ride there, I didn't realize that something significant was about to happen.

In fact, it took me about 10 of the 25 minutes of the drive home before I even realized - I was ALONE. Which may seem insignificant, but I actually cannot remember the last time I was in the car alone - neither of the kids or the dog.

I can't even describe the feeling of freedom!! Usually I keep the windows up so no one gets too wind blown, and the radio, if it's even on, at a reasonable volume (since I can't hear it over the chatter anyways). If we play any music, it's normally the Cocomelon variety. But now - I could do whatever I wanted!! It was beautiful yesterday so I rolled down the windows and cranked up the music. I was briefly interrupted when my sister called, but I informed her I was swinging from a chandelier with Sia at the moment and I'd call back ;)

I have a confession. When I was in my 20s, even into my late 20s, I often would find myself having moments where I was surprised at how 'grown-up' I felt. Those moments would always happen at the same time, while driving to work in the morning. I'd think to myself 'look at you! so grown-up...driving your big girl car to your big girl job, from your big girl house!!'. I guess it would happen because, despite the fact that I wasn't a kid anymore, I FELT like one. No responsibility to anyone besides myself. I'm not saying I would trade my life today to go back to that, but I look back at that time of my life very fondly. It was blissful, that feeling of freedom.

I can't remember the last time I had that feeling, but it gradually faded away over the years. But on Sunday, for the first time in a long time, I enjoyed driving. And instead of feeling grown-up, the reverse happened - I felt young and carefree. Ok, maybe I wasn't driving a 350Z, zooming in and out of traffic like the good old days. But for those 15 minutes, even though I was driving my mom SUV with the child seats installed, and wearing my mom cardigan (the one with the huge pockets that fits my keys, phone, mask, sanitizer AND a small pack of wipes - it's miraculous), I felt pretty cool going 10KM/hour over the limit, while swinging from my proverbial chandelier :)

I might just call and book Daisy's next haircut already.