I’m on a flight back from Singapore right now… alone (yep – I’m traveling without kids!)
I have my earbuds in, a Ginger Ale by my side, and I’m watching All the Money in the World as I type this. In fact, I already know that I’ll be watching Only the Brave next. Most importantly, I have no one but myself to take care of, and that’s how it’s been for the last 8 days.
What do you think about me traveling without kids?
Are you happy for me?
Do you wish you were with me? 🙂
Do you feel I made the wrong decision to leave my children at home?
See, there’s a division between moms.
There are two camps, if you will. On one side, we have moms who have never spent a night away from their children, and on the other side, we have moms who feel just fine leaving their kids for a bit (dare say, they might even find fulfillment in it!)
Both are justified. I mean, you can’t go wrong when you do what you feel is the best move for your own children. Most importantly, you can’t go wrong when you follow that gut feeling that pushes you to either stay or go.
This is not a post about whether or not you should leave your kids, though. It’s a post about my decision to leave them for this trip, this time.
Phew, right?!
How’d you get on this plane in the first place, you ask?
I work for Buffer. “Hi” from all of us! ⬇️
Buffer is a social media scheduling, engagement and analytics company. Besides about 100 other things, one thing that makes Buffer unique is that we all work completely remote, distributed all around the world. Because of this, once or twice a year, we meet somewhere in the world to co-work.
Bringing it full circle, that’s why I’m on this plane! I’m coming back from my 4th trip with Buffer.
I’ve been part of Buffer for 2-1/2 years. In that time, I’ve been flown to Hawaii, Madrid, London, and this time, to Singapore. [drool]
Although I always look forward to the time away from home and the time to bond with my fellow team members, it’s always a bit of a tough balance. I do love being with my kiddos as much as possible. I’m their primary care giver, and I know every detail of their routines and how to run our entire household in the smoothest way possible.
A need for control is not a great reason for me to stay at home, though, so I made a plan (and took a leap of faith.)
I prepared to leave for the week in a few ways:
- I talked through the week with my husband to see when we might have a gap in care for our kids
- I reached out to folks who might have the availability to help us fill those gaps (my father-in-law and a sitter.)
- I wrote deeeetailed notes (3-1/2 pages worth) with every children’s activity, every reminder, and every other bullet point I could think of. Wanna see a screen shot?
When I left home, I was nervous. I was nervous that something would slip through the cracks, and I really didn’t want it to be one of my kiddos who fell through!
On the plane ride over, I let my logical mind poke through, and I realized that I had done everything I could to prepare my house and my family for my trip. I now had to trust those at home to follow through with it all (and I knew they could!)
To say I thoroughly enjoyed my trip is an understatement. I had great chats with my team members, I got to know folks from other teams, and I feel like I also had enough time to see a good amount of Singapore (and, I’ll be back!)
Did I miss my kids and my husband?
Yes!
Was it worth it?
Yes!
Here’s how “worth it” it was in a few shots of my time in Singapore:
Feel free to check-out some .gifs from our time at Bounce, a trampoline park here on my Giphy channel.
As I sit here 30,000+ feet above the Pacific Ocean, I’m fulfilled, and I feel like I really have the best of both worlds.
- I experienced Singapore both with friends and co-workers. We did good work, and we had a lot of fun. We will be a better team this year because of it.
- I’m headed home to my babies and my husband. I can just feel the hugs and kisses right now. 💜 I also feel the warmth and loyalty from those who helped take care of my precious sweets this week.
I couldn’t be more grateful for Buffer, for my team, and for my family. This really is the life, and I’ll definitely be traveling without kids again – for their increased connection with other caregivers, for my professional growth, and for the ability to flourish in a ton of complimentary “me” time!
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