"...Now we just read taut novels."

I nearly choked on my last gulp of Vitamin Water when my girlfriend Maura offered up this observation following our third day on a Martha's Vineyard beach. We were passing a group of young, 25-year-old women at the time. Tall, tanned, with shiny new swimsuits and nary a wrinkle on their foreheads, they were giggling their way down the beach, soaking up the sunshine and having a great time. They looked as if they had just walked off the pages of a J. Crew catalogue with not a care in the world.

"That used to be us," I said, somewhat longingly, recalling the summers my friends and I spent weekending in our group beach house.

"Yes, that was back when we had taut bodies," Tina observed.

And you know now the punchline.

Reconnecting with my girlfriends this past weekend was—as it is every year—a complete joy. We did all the things we wanted to do and nothing we didn't want to do. No one needed us. No one was looking for us to solve a problem, make a meal, or clean the towels. We ate, we drank and we shopped. We caught up on all the latest news on Britney, Lindsay, and Becks and Posh. I read my advance copy of Odd Mom Out, by Jane Porter and started a second book, too. The weather cooperated, the food was great, and the company even better.

(Side note: I can't wait to meet Jane at our Manic Mommies Escape. I really enjoyed her book about a single mom trying to do it all well while managing her own business and the needs of her 9-year-old daughter.)

My husband kept everything running smoothly back home. He took the boys for an overnight at Maura's family's lake house and whenever I called he was sure to tell me how great things were going. "Have fun," he said. "You deserve it."

This was an obvious departure from how the conversations go when hubby is away golfing for the weekend. When he calls to check in I am usually quick to let him know how tired I am, how the boys have been trying my patience, who wouldn't eat and who woke me up at 5am. He did none of that. "Everything is great here. The boys are great. We're all good."

This, I have decided, is a much better approach and one I will try to take next time hubby is away for the weekend. He taught me the value of keeping the details to a minimum. All I needed to know was that everyone was OK. Yes, they missed me, and I missed them. But the quality Daddy time was good for all.

And when I returned last night I could see that everyone had made special memories this weekend: Mommy, Daddy, and the boys.