The following is a guest post from Erin Scott. My personal “me” time has been going to Zumba class 3-4 times a week. It is a fun filled hour that I get to spend with friends but it is also great exercise!
What mom does not have those overwhelming moments at times!? The ones where you want to fall face first onto your bed and scream in your pillow….Why do we feel like we have to do everything for everyone else but ourselves???
Two years ago that was me. I have a wonderful husband who is a high school varsity basketball coach (in Indiana – Hoosier Basketball – enough said) and 6 months out of the year he is extremely busy and we travel to every game just so we can see him. I have 2 handsome and outgoing little boys and I love volunteering in their classrooms, being a part of baseball, Cub Scouts, etc. But what do I do for me? I was really searching for something just fun and stress-free.
Then one day I heard that New Kids on the Block were reuniting and something just sparked. I felt 14 again! Joey was my favorite! I was going to hear “Hangin’ Tough” and “Please Don’t Go Girl” live in concert again! I called my best friend, Angie (who was in the need of some serious ME TIME too!) and we began planning! At first, I think my husband thought I was crazy! But he knew that I was in need and he went along with our crazy plans!
So the weekend of Oct 3, 2009, 2 of my friends and I packed up and took off. We went all out! We designed special tshirts for the night (I got mine autographed!), We bought VIP tickets which included a Meet & Greet and really great seats!
We began our journey from the Indy area to Cleveland, OH! What a night! Our crazy weekend included an all night road trip from Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL for our second concert of the weekend! (What stories we have from that night! – None of us had pulled an all-nighter for years!) We got to meet our childhood crushes (Donnie Wahlberg gave me a kiss during the meet & greet – a peck ~ but it was a Donnie Wahlberg kiss!), enjoy one amazing concert, follow a tour bus from Cleveland to Chicago, meet awesome women from all over the world, enjoy another amazing concert, and just remember how to be a woman. Not a wife, not a mom, not a hygienist ~ just a WOMAN!
That weekend changed my life. It made me realized how important it is for my family that I have moments of my own. It’s okay to let loose while still be a responsible person, but having your own kind of fun. I came back from that weekend refreshed and actually had a new appreciation for my family.
You don’t have to become a “fangirl” to have your moments ~ define your own. Take a cooking class, lose yourself in a bookstore, volunteer somewhere, get a manicure, go to Vegas with some friends, go to the movies by yourself, enjoy a Starbucks, etc….
2 years and 9 concerts later……I am still finding my moments…..still a wife and a mom and loving every minute of it, but if you ever catch me staring off into space with a smirk on my face….you know that I am remembering this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_JMmRdTpjE
How do you find your moments?
p.s. I just bought tickets for another concert in July! Woooo!
~Erin Scott~
The ideas and opinions in this post are those of Erin Scott. It was written as a guest blog for Bargain Briana. Erin Scott resides in Daleville, IN. She is Wife to Corey, Mom to Jack & Ben, and a Dental Hygienist. Erin is very active in her community. She loves reading and traveling. Her favorite vacation destination is Disney World and loves to plan her trips there as well as everyone else’s trips to the Happiest Place on Earth. She is always looking to use her creativity in different adventures and venues – Check out her jewelry blog Let’s Bead This.
I agree so much – – when you are a mom is always about someone else, which is okay to a point. But i think having some “me” time makes me a better mother and wife. For about 10 years now me and my 5 best friends from high school (been out of high school for 25 years now) take a “Mommies Gone Wild Trip” to Florida. Trust me , it is anything but wild. We lay in the pool reading, we go to dinner, have a few drinks and in bed by ten or eleven. It is just all about us relaxing . . . . and of course answering the texts from our children back home. Of course the shirts we have made get tons of attention in the airport and on the beach. We’ve been able to get free appetizers because of the shirts. When I explained to my kids what we do when we are gone – – their comment “well that’s not wild, that’s kind of boring”. Oh well, that’s what makes me a better mom.
I love this! Exactly what I’m talking about! I’m hoping as my kids and my close friends’ kids get older we can try and plan something like that! Laying on a Florida beach soaking up the sun sounds so awesome right now!