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" Elisabeth Joy Lamotte has written a wonderful article on Divorce&amp;#039;s Dirty Little Secret - the unexpected perk of having time to yourself. As a mother, part of me feels guilty for enjoying my weekends away from the kids, but the truth is\u2026..I do enjoy them. Sometimes, a lot. It&amp;#039;s not that I don&amp;#039;t miss my kids. It&amp;#039;s hard when something &amp;quot;milestone-ish&amp;quot; happens and they aren&amp;#039;t with me. Losing a tooth, learning to ride without training wheels\u2026.it all happened away from me, and I should have been there. I miss my daughter&amp;#039;s quirky sense of humor at bedtime \u2013 we laugh so much together these days. I miss my son&amp;#039;s singing, and the way he cuddles me. I miss it all, but oh, how I treasure that alone time. In the middle of all the giant misery cloud that is divorce, a silver lining has appeared, and I get time for just me \u2013 something I rarely got when Peter was here. I enabled that to a great degree, and I see that now. Peter always seemed to be more &amp;quot;inconvenienced&amp;quot; by the kids, so I was constantly running interference between them and him so that he could relax. The end result was that I almost never did. I relax now. And I get a whole weekend to clean or do projects without them underfoot, and time to pamper myself a bit, sleeping late or watching a favorite movie. When they come back Monday morning, I&amp;#039;m recharged and the house is sparkling clean and ready for a fresh onslaught. Having a clean house and a refreshed mind and body gives me more time and energy for them, and I give it my all when they&amp;#039;re here. Can I watch Anna practice cartwheels? You bet \u2013 that laundry can wait since I&amp;#039;ll have time to do it on the weekend. Can I read an extra book with David tonight? Sure thing! Patience is my new middle name. When all is said and done, Divorce is bad. But not all bad. I get to recharge every other weekend, and that&amp;#039;s all good. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a45776/unexpected-benefit-962/>