I knew he’d handle it just fine, but he went above-and-beyond “just fine.”
While I was living it up in Atlanta, he was diligently seeing to the needs of our children, taking them to the pool and rescuing a toad from the death-chomp of a snake in the yard.
Day 1 text from my oldest son: “Mom, there is a bullfrog living in our pond! And I saw a snake try to eat a toad! The toad’s leg was bitten off.”
What? Ew! A snake in the yard with my kids (again)? Augh!
Overcome with the willies, I immediately sent a message to my husband: “A snake?? Eating a toad?! Just a toad? Are you sure?! Did you count the children?!”
The toad was rescued, so were the children; I can’t say the same for the snake.
As if the backyard Reptile and Amphibian Show wasn’t chaos enough, my husband allowed my younger son to invite his friends over for a sleep-over.
“You planned what?” I asked.
"How many kids? You are crazy. Don't tell them about the snake."
Granted, our son had a birthday the week I was gone. (Mom Fail.) And the sleep-over was his request: a sleep-over and dinner at his favorite Mexican restaurant.
My husband accepted the challenge. Alone.
Meanwhile, I was texting frantically between conference sessions.
6:30 p.m. Me: “You doing OK? The kids behaving?” (Secret code for: Do you miss me?)
Hubby: “At restaurant with five boys now. They are spastic.”
I envisioned them all playing in the fountain, demanding quesadillas and spilling drinks while my husband hid himself under a sombrero.
9:40 p.m. Me: “How’s it going?”
Hubby: “Good. They are just running all over the house.”
“Oh-no,” I thought. “He’s transitioned into do-whatever-you-want-I’ll-clean-up-tomorrow parenting mode.”
But the house was still standing when I returned, and everyone (except the snake) was all in one piece. I’m not even sure they even realized I was gone.
In fact, my heroic, snake-slaying, kid-wrangling, toddler-chasing husband did such a wonderful job I think it is safe to tell him about my next trip.
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