A cure for lonely.

My sister called this morning to see if I could come out and play today. She's on vacation at one of the lakes nearby at the cottage of a coworker. She thought a long weekend alone would help her mental state, (she hates people like I do!), instead she's realized she HATES spiders and the noises a 1930's cottage makes in the night. Also, she's lonely.

She called to see if I could dump Logan and come out for the day. Unfortunately for all of us, Logan was un-dumpable, since he was on his way to the How conference in Chicago. He was also on his way to the lap of luxury.....a fancy hotel, which, for a four day stay costs as much as my monthly house payment. When I saw the charge on our online banking statement I first swallowed my tongue, threw it back up and then ran into oncoming traffic screaming at the top of my lungs.

Since I couldn't come out by myself she suggested I bring the kids out, which I was all for. Because when the kids are on vacation and/or Logan is out of town, we're burning daylight.

When we arrived at the cottage, 45 minutes later (that's 45 minutes of daylight burned, you know), the weather was fair. There was sun and it was warm. We decided to eat some lunch before breaking out the suits, sunscreen and sand toys. Fatal Error.

We spent the rest of the day trapped on the tiny concrete porch while it poured. Then poured some more. Then life threatening lightning came down from the sky. Disappointing.

On the other hand, after spending a few hours with my extremely talkative children on a tiny concrete porch, my sister was ready to feel lonely. I offered to let her take the kids home and I'd stay at the cottage so she wouldn't feel lonely but shockingly, she said she was ready to be alone.

I don't think I ever knew how much talking kids do. I like talking, but even I don't need to talk this much.

I bet Logan's talking....or maybe he's quietly taking in the view from his high rise hotel room. Actually he's drinking his face off. Odd, so am I.

*Who recommended I read "Why I'm Like This"? I just finished it and loved it (though the end fell a little flat and schmaltzy for my taste). Thank you.

Comments

[Heatheranne]

Oh yeah. I hate people too. That's why I went to school for forensic science. I figured the only people I'd have to deal with would be dead. Little did I know that there are no jobs available in this area in forensics so I'm now working for my father in law as a receptionist. The sick thing is, they think I'm doing such a "wonderful" job, they prefer ME to be the one to deal with people. Ironic.

The one single good thing about living in my apartment is that there's a pool. We all take our kids down there and let them blow off steam while we sit and drink. It's a win win situation.

[amy]

Sorry it rained, bummer.

Yes, children talk/screech/fight/belch/fart/annoy and generally make noise constantly which is why I am in my office with the door closed having a lovely glass of wine :)

(note: I do love them to pieces but I worked all day and NEED a bit of downtime, hell, we ALL do!)

[clickmom]

I feel your pain. I always say I can find my kids because no matter where we are I can hear them. Not only do they talk non-stop, but there is no volume control going on at all. Sometimes I imagine them discussing how many times I have asked them to stop talking so I can think with their future therapists. But hey, sometimes I have to think.

Rained here today too. We ate ice cream while cowering near the snack bar at the town pool. When the lightning left the area the kids played in the water in the rain. At least they were talking to each other instead of me.

[Liz in Maryland]

I totally get it. My husband was in Germany for 23 days between April 5th and May 26th. Luckily my girls are a bit older, 16 and 12 but they still like to talk, and since he wasn't here, and they don't like to talk much to each other, they talked to me.

I find that when teens aren't talking or making noise, it's time to worry...especially if the boyfriend is over.

[amy]

BTW send me to a little cabin, rain or no rain and you can bet your butt I would NOT feel lonely! The silence would be bliss..

[Susan]

The talking. Oh god the talking.

Thank god for the drinking.

[Jerri Ann]

I was just wondering the other day if I could get someone to send me to a hotel (here in town is good enough for me) for about 4 days so I could just be alone and......well....be alone some more. I know I'd miss my kids so much I'd be tripping but I have methadone and oxycontin, I"m sure I could work it out, lol. No more drugs really...maybe that's why the weekend away sounds so wonderful.

Oh well, it has to rain sometimes...thanks for telling me that for the 4000000 time grammy.

[julia]

Man, I could use a little lonely right now. Or, lonely with my son -- just away from visiting in-laws. Nuff said, I guess.

[mamaloo]

oh, oh! I think I recommended that book to you. Gosh, now I feel all famous.

[Mom of 2 under 4]

Van Gough (sp?) didn't cut off his ear because of a woman, it was because he had to talkative whining kids.

[Karen,Suburban Mommy Disguise]

My husband once stayed in a hotel room so large and luxurious on business where...and this is real...he didn't even notice his room had a SECOND BATHROOM in it until his second day there. He called to express puzzlement as to why you would need a second bathroom and I think my answer was "well why the hell not?" I also think my child was barfing at the time which may have made me less than celebratory.

He so owes you a weekend away at a cabin. Probably two.

[buffi]

I had a hotel room all by myself Wednesday night. Free wi-fi and everything. I was so looking forward to a peaceful night's sleep with no interuptions. Then I discovered that my window was directly above the Taco Bueno drive thru. Is that ironic or just crappy?

[lisa]

ummm, who does your husband work for?!?!
I need a job with them! How Conference! Days in LA for press checks! I'm jealous!

[Nancy]

A couple months ago, my father-in-law came over from London, where he's a Jazz musician, to NYC for two days and stayed at the Four Seasons. My husband flew out there and joined him. I s'pose I COULD have joined them, but I'd have to bring our 18-month-old along, and well, it seemed like such a hassle then. He did bring me some of the "complimentary" Bvlgari soaps and body washes though.

[mrsmogul]

Yes Children are like, yapper-mouths! Lots of blah blah blah'ing about their toys, their friends, their snots..cute though..not sure if I could ever be a school teacher though.

[Marnie]

Hopefully this is being posted with the sister blog...

I completely empathize with her feelings toward spiders. Completely. I hate them. HATE them. Well, not really hate them, but rather am so terrified that I hyperventilate when I see one. Seriously. My dog even freaks out when he sees me hyperventilate. It's so bad that at one point my husband, who is so anti-gen-X it's not funny, suggested I might need therapy. He was serious. I know it's a bad, bad situation when my own husband says out loud that I need therapy.

God bless your sister, and more anti-spidey power to her.

[Shannon]

Oh, the talking. I knew my three year old talker, but I just realized yesterday that she is ALWAYS making SOME noise of some sort at all times. I went to one of Boston's finer jewelry stores to get a new back for one of my diamond earrings. I thought I would just run in really quickly, how long could it take? I ran to the service desk and there were already two people in line. Did I mention I had 3 kids with me? 5, 3 and 10 months? As luck would have it the woman in front of me had a hundred pieces of silver that had to be inventoried!! We were in a small 5x5 foot area and we were waiting and waiting and my three year old would not stop talking. It was amazing. It was otherwise extremely quiet in the Shreve Crump and Low. Three year olds don't respect the dignity of diamonds apparently. It was actually pretty funny amidst all the pretense. But boy oh boy can kids talk!!!!

[Lil' Sis]

Okay so I've been reading these backwards. Also commenting. Ah well.
I was not so much lonely, as paranoid of the spiders and neurotically investigating every creak of the house. I mean, for god's sake, I was WARNED ABOUT THE SWANS! They're mean and have been known to attack jet-skiers. And that wall of windows didn't help, and I thought i was giving myself a heart attack and it occurred to me (on saturday) that if I died, nobody would even wonder where I was until I was due at work on Wednesday.
And I did manage to get rid of most of the spiders on the back porch (without killing them) PLUS I killed 2 yellowjacket nests. I'd say I was braver than I could have been. But I still feel like a loser. Didn't make me feel better.
-maio.