I (Deesha) will be attending BlogHer this year in San Diego, speaking on a panel entitled “‘Til Blog Do Us Part?”.  Initially, I was planning to make this trip alone, but 9 days away from our daughters last week while vacationing in Florida with TechBooHusband (2 days of which Mike was also traveling for work) taught me a valued lesson: Apparently, when I go away, life doesn’t go on for one of our children who called me at 11:30 PM and 2:30 AM, and who shall remain nameless.  She missed me a lot, struggling at times during the long summer days with Sherry, her stepmom, during the nights when Mike was away, and sometimes during the nights he was at home.  And once I realized that I’d see her for just 3 days post-Florida, then turn right around and head to San Diego–and that Mike would once again be traveling while I was away–I started having second thoughts about my trip.

This was one of those times that I was extra thankful for a congenial co-parenting partnership.  While in Florida, I reached out to Mike via text.  He too was having second thoughts about his trip.  These were trips we both really needed to make, but we were concerned about the impact on our daughters who are used to having us both very present, and who certainly aren’t used to both of us being gone at the same time.  We were also concerned about the demands placed on Sherry who is also caring for their 2-month baby daughter.  The solution: Sherry (who is an animal lover and who has always wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo) and the girls are flying out to San Diego as well.

As there’s little to no documentation of mom-stepmom travels (if you don’t count our annual family vacations with Mike, our girls, my husband, and my stepkids), I’ll of course be blogging about our adventure.  But don’t hold your breath for much in the way of action.  We aren’t staying in the same hotel or flying on the same flights.  Maybe our trip will be more performance art than reality TV.   Keep watching…