Parenting paradoxes

Go away so I can obsess over you

This weekend I went away on my annual writers’ retreat, which is a special time for me. I never get to travel by myself and I revel in the liberation of driving a car with no carseats, of enjoying pure silence in the morning.

Of course, the minute my carpool buddy joined me, we started talking about our kids, and I made multiple requests to my husband t…