Mommy's long day...

On Friday, I had a nightmarish day -- I had to get up at 5:30 a.m. (after going to bed around 12:30 the night before after getting home from work) to drive 2 1/2 hours to Mechanicsburg, Pa., to do some interviews for the next story I'm working on for The Post. I stayed for a few hours, then started driving to Frederick, Md., for more interviews on the same story (before which I pulled off at a shopping center to do a phone interview for another story I was working on that was due today). I stopped at a farm stand and bought some raspberries and strawberries as a surprise for Drew and Rachel because we had run out of breakfast fruit, pulled in Frederick, did my interview, and when it was over I got into my car (at 6:20 p.m.) and said, "Whew! Now I can sleep."

I raced home to surprise Rachel; I had told her not to expect me until midday Saturday. Arriving home, I found her to be in quite a state. She and Drew had gone to Upton Hills, the swim park near our house, to swim and play mini-golf. While they were playing mini-golf, Rachel somehow slid down a hill and got herself covered mud -- so much so that Drew had to take her home and, literally, hose her off in the tub. Apparently she was wailing and so upset with herself -- "I hate myself!" she told him at one point -- and by the time I got upstairs I heard her say plaintively, "Daddy, you're the only person who understands me." His answer sounded very comforting, something along the lines of "I'm older than you, and I've lived a lot more years."

She burst into tears upon seeing me, and hugged me and hugged me until we got to her room and I sat on the bed and cuddled with her until she calmed down. When she started weeping again I gently told her to stop, that everything was fine, Mommy was home and we all needed to go to dinner -- so we went to the Silver Diner, one of our favorite places, had a great meal and then Carvel for dessert.

And then I slept for 10 hours straight. So all in all, it was a good day.