Working on the weekend

In my house, Saturdays are sacred. Saturdays are for sleeping in (sometimes until 7:30 a.m.!) Saturdays are for making blueberry pancakes and watching cartoons. Saturdays are for reading the newspaper, or taking the kids to the park, or visiting friends. Even when we have to do errands, Saturdays are family time.

But not today. Today I had to go to an all-day conference.

While I rushed around trying to get ready this morning, one of the kids had an "accident" on the bed and then spilled a full glass of orange juice on the living room carpet. I stripped the bed, loaded the sheets into the washing machine, and said to my husband, "You're going to have an interesting day." Then I made my exit as quickly as possible, leaving him to deal with the orange juice.

Normally I dislike working on weekends, but I was happy to leave this morning. As much as I love my kids, sometimes it is easier to be at work. (Many of my working mama friends would agree.) Besides, I was looking forward to the conference and knew I would learn a lot.

Still, it's hard for many working mamas to spend additional time away from our children, when many of us feel we don't get enough time with them already.

As one of my working mama friends once told me, explaining why she didn't want to go out to dinner with her husband on a Saturday night: "When I was home with the kids for a year, I was happy to plan a date night. Now I don't want to go out on weekends because I feel bad leaving the kids."

So did I feel guilty, being away from the kids all day?

I could have, but I've spent lots of quality time with them lately. Instead, I enjoyed the conference.

And the kids had a great day with dad.