While my parents took charge of my kiddos and my husband went to a convention in Atlanta I had (gasp) time to myself in a (sigh) city.

We took the corporate jet so there was zero hassle.

I went on a quest to find my perfect pair of jeans, and I did. I rode the subway back from the mall, because I miss things like people watching on subways.

I got my breasts visually sized (ever since I saw the bra episode on Oprah I've wanted to know what size I should be wearing) at this store called Intimates and found out I'm a size larger than I thought.

I got a 90 minute massage! Seriously, the massuese spent 30 minutes on the knots in my shoulders and neck that results from carrying around a 30 pound baby.

I went dancing.

I ate indian food.

I ate whatever I wanted. I didn't have to make the food. I didn't have to clean up the dishes. I didn't have to pay for it. It's was a purely guilt-free 5 day food fest. I don't think that's ever happened to me before.

I worked uninterupted for hours.

I slept into the afternoon - twice.

I saw The Drifters and danced the night away.

I spent Martin Luther King Day at the Martin Luther King Memorial in Atlanta. I met a woman and talked her into going with me. It was awe inspiring.

I haggled with street vendors for souvenires on Auburn Ave.

So Mom, maybe you guys could watch the kids for a week once every six months?

Hey, Ains. What did you learn in school today?

We learned about a king. He got the black people freed.

You mean a president?

No a king.

You mean somewhere else?

No here.

This is America. We don't have kings here. We have presidents. Could they be talking about Abraham Lincoln?

No, it's a king. And we also get to not go to school on Monday.

It says on the lunch calendar that there is lunch on Monday. You just got done with Christmas break. I think you have school.

No, they said there won't be any school because of someone's birth day.

A week later at dinner.

What did you learn in school today, Ainsley?

We learned about Martin Luther King. He got the whites and the blacks together.

Right. A king. That brought freedom to black people. No school on Monday. Martin Luther King Day.

Mommy did you know they used to not let blacks and whites go to school together or drink out of the same drinking fountain? Did you know they weren't allowed to be friends or be together in the bus?

I know.

Isn't that terrible?

It is terrible.

Isn't it happy that we all get to be together now?

Yes, very happy!

My dream is that she'll have a similar conversation with her daughter about women's equality.

Mommy, did you know that women didn't used to have equal rights?

I know honey. Isn't that crazy? she'll say, remembering absurd it was.