My name is Aaron, and I’m a bad daddy.
Will spent the night at my parent’s house last night because MJ still isn’t back from Atlantic City and I had to work this morning. So instead of getting up at the butt crack of dawn, I hung out at their house last night and left Will there to spend the night and all of today with my mom.
Look, I love my son. I know I’m supposed to say that I missed him terribly. I should talk about how I couldn’t rest peacefully without my child in the next room. How things just aren’t the same without my sweet little angel. Violins will play, doves will take flight and you will all shed tears of joy at how heartfelt the whole thing is.
But I’d be lying.
I had a GREAT night last night without Will. I hung out on the couch and I watched the movie Appaloosa. I turned the sound way up, just how I like it, because it wouldn’t irritate wife or child. I lounged on the couch in my boxers. I burped. I farted without fear of consequences. I scratched to my heart’s content.
And the best part? I slept for eight glorious, interrupted hours.
No 3 a.m. feedings. No bolting upright when he gets temporarily fussy for a few minutes and then goes back to sleep. And as an added bonus, it was raining pretty hard and the dogs are afraid of the rain. Which means they didn’t wake me up at 3:30 a.m. to go out and eat. Instead, they curled up silently and slept until 7:30 a.m.
I forgot how goddamn wonderful it is to get that much sleep. To watch what I want to watch on TV. To not stumble around in the middle of the night preparing a bottle and soothing a pissed off infant back to sleep. Honestly, it was FANTASTIC!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to seeing Will and MJ tonight. No question. But for one magnificent night I was a guy again. A guy in charge of the TV. A guy who could eat whatever he wanted without nagging. A guy who didn’t have to change a poopy diaper. A guy who could view Internet smut with the sound turned on like the good Lord intended.
And there’s no shame in saying that it felt good for a change. I love my life and I’m happy it is the way it is, but every once in a while it’s nice to temporarily revert back to simpler times when I wasn’t in charge of another human being, you know?
Good for you. Hope the stuff I gave you helped!
BTW, the word verification says “tools 723-5140″ What the hell does that mean?
It is good to recharge the batteries. Every parent needs a break sometimes for sure. My wife and I take a night off every week, but I haven’t had one all alone in forever.
One of the small things I miss is turning my movies up loud too. My wife tolerated it but called me deaf. With the the baby now it is an impossibility.
Muted porn is horrible. Haven’t you ever heard of headphones?
“A guy who could view Internet smut with the sound turned on like the good Lord intended.”
So, if you get to hell before me save me a good seat.
I get this guilty feeling, on those rare ocassions that I come home and no one is there. I feel guilty because I am SO happy to have a little time to myself without the wife and kids around.
The older you get, the more you will enjoy this time.
-Al
Nothing wrong with wanting some time to yourself. Everyone needs down time to do something for themselves. Sound like you had an awesome night.
The eight hours of sleep sounds the best.