Viva La Down Time

We were in Viva Taqueria, my favorite place to get a margarita and a buzz.  It's fun to take our out-of-town guests there because of the totally happening people, great music, and delicious, fresh food.  Charming Baby had to go to the restroom so I went with him (I was on margarita number two).  Waiting in line, we swayed to some Air Supply and watched waitstaff with colorful tattoos and perfectly ripped jeans run by with trays full of drinks and nachos.  All of the sudden my youngest son wrapped his arms around me and buried his face into my chest and sighed, “I miss you.”

We had been together for 16 days straight, but I knew what he meant. Between Entrepreneurship at Cornell and two Spring Breaks (ours and our friends’), we have had three sets of visitors from California in the past two-and-a-half weeks.  In the middle of that, we went to NYC for my mother-in-law’s birthday, Passover, Easter, and a Cake show.  I hugged him back, smelled his hair and said, “I know, me too.”

“You’ve been so distracted.”

How is a seven-year-old able to articulate his feelings so well?  His future wife owes me so big time.  He had made a similar observation about some of our visitors, commenting that they were looking at their smart phones all the time, even during dinner.

I thought about how it all must have seemed to my son.  He wasn’t used to the multitasking business professionals from our city life.  He had grown accustomed to the slower college-town pace.  These past few weeks, I had become preoccupied, trying to get everything done in between museums, nature centers, campus tours, and evenings out.  We were all enjoying the company and travel, but I was also trying to keep my commitments and projects rolling.  At one point, I was e-mailing with one hand while wrangling the dog with the other on one of our hikes. I didn’t realize what I had been missing until that tender moment at the back of the Mexican restaurant.

Sometimes I forget I am the gatekeeper to his entire world.  No one else is going to manage the schedule to ensure we have long, one-on-one talks and book-filled bedtimes.  As much as we loved the recent excitement, I can’t wait to get back to our routine.