I am rarely a traveling mom who travels without the kids. As a mommy-blogger, business trips don’t come my way too often. I haven’t been on a business trip in…well…never. OK, not never, but not for at least 15 years. But as I type this, I am on a Virgin America (best airline ever!) flight to San Francisco to meet a new client, talk about a new project, and spend four nights away from my kids: two with a friend (no business), and two at a four star hotel in Palo Alto (yes business.)

I’m not gonna lie: the prospect of spending four nights traveling without my kids – two of them completely alone in a hotel room –  (which said client is footing the bill for, btw.) well, let’s just say I’ve been a bit excited.

One of the things about being a full-time Mom is that you have precious little time to yourself. True, my kids are in school all day, but that doesn’t mean I have time for myself. I just have time for them that they aren’t there to see. Time to make their beds, and cook their food, and buy them new clothing that they’ll just grow out of in three months anyway.

So this business trip is a big deal. First of all, I don’t have to feel guilty; I’m not just going gallivanting around with some girlfriends on some self-indulgent mid-life crisis jaunt (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I’m on a bona fide business trip. Second of all, as I will be 3,000 miles away from my children, I will not have to cook their meals, or make their beds, or argue with them about whether or not they can play on the computer. Third of all, the company is offering restaurant meals (no dishes!), yoga in the mornings, and pedicures one afternoon.

Imagine my surprise, then, when saying goodbye to my twins, that I started to well up. Suddenly it hit me – I have never left my children for more than two nights. And even that, I’ve only done three times (two weddings and a funeral, really). What if one of them falls and breaks his or her arm? Or falls and breaks one of my beautiful Tiffany vases? What if some major life event transpires while I’m gone? Like a lost tooth, a first crush, or finally getting to the next level in Super Mario Brothers? I’ll miss it.

All the way to the airport, I brooded. Forget the hypothetical teeth, and crushes and technological milestones, I’ll miss THEM. (I’ll miss the husband, too. But, hey, I can live with that.)

There was only one thing to do: get a massage.

Yes, it’s true, you can get a massage at the airport. Not the best massage ever, but a massage nonetheless, kinda like the ones you get at the manicure place. In I walked to Xpress Spa, down I sat in the little S&M looking massage chair, and ring ring ring went the cell phone. It was my son:

“Mommy,” he said, “When are you coming home?”

You can take the Mom on a business trip, but you can’t stop the never ending trip that is being a Mom.