I confess my family will all be wearing wrinkled clothes this week. 

Ever since my children switched from nanny to aftercare, I’ve re-inherited the job of doing the family laundry – these are the times I miss our nanny the most.  The real art to doing the laundry is all about timing i.e. will you be available to transfer wet clothes into the dryer when the washer is finished and will you be available to fold/hang clothes as soon as they are dry?  For me the answer is rarely “yes”.

This week was particularly difficult because I had two evening events scheduled (something that almost never happens).  So there were at least two late nights of getting laundry done so that my children would have clean clothes to wear to school the next day – yes, I got behind on laundry last weekend too.  Anyway, I was doing good to stay awake (actually sleep on the couch) long enough to get past the first transfer let alone execute the final folding step.  So, my kids, husband and I will all be wearing wrinkled clothes for the next several days.

The first evening event was drinks with some friends from a networking group.  This is the first time that I have accepted an invitation to meet with my networking buddies without my husband after hours and I confess it was really fun.  So fun in fact that I lost track of time and didn’t get home until after midnight.  So fun that I did not hear my cell phone when my husband tried to call me and so fun that I forgot to call him.  Our dogs had human company that night. 

I adore my family and have no desire to regularly spend evenings away from them, but I didn’t realize how much I missed the simple pleasure of drinks with a few friends.  So now the dilemma is, should I plan to meet that craving at least once a few times a year so that I’m not so starved for a relaxed evening with my buds that I age my husband two years in two hours? Or should I go back to my policy of never attending these events? I don’t remember my mother attending those kinds of events.  Does that desire alone make me a super EWM? Or would all be forgiven if my family wasn’t condemned to wearing wrinkled clothes for the week?