I’ll get to the e-mail. But first a brief synopsis of our day, which provides context for the bit about the e-mail at the end.

To commemorate the first post-school day of summer, my mom and I took Chloe and Sophie to the boardwalk. The weather forecast was iffy this morning and until the last minute, we were uncertain we’d make it down to the beach.

I love the boardwalk.  I need to go there at least once every summer, because the boardwalk is a happy place for me.  Childhood memories, memories as a parent – you get my drift.  So I decided to live large. Pre-Chief Mom Officer me would have hemmed and hawed, and hesitated to risk driving all the way down there only to have to turn back because of rain.  Actually, that’s not quite true. Pre-Chief Mom Officer me would not have gone at all, because I would have been working.

But it’s a new dawn. And now I can take the girls wherever the hell I want, when I want. Within reason, of course. So damn the rain, I thought.  We’ll play the odds and hope for the best.  And it turns out the odds were in our favor today.

The sun shone brightly. We saw an amazing sandcastle-in-progress three stories tall, built by sculptor Ed Jarrett to benefit Hurricane Sandy victims.

Armed with $10 each to play games, the girls actually came home with prizes worth well over the amount they actually spent.  That never happens.  Grammy even joined the fun and let out her inner wild child by gambling several times on the “claw” games.  After winning a stuffed animal for Sophie on her first try, she was convinced she was a pro and spent several more dollars trying to wrangle another toy from at least four other claws.  Didn’t happen.

Upon returning to the car, I gave Chloe my phone so she could text her Papa with details about their winnings. And she saw I had a lot of e-mails.  And she exclaimed, “Crap, Mom! Do you always get this many e-mails?  Because if you do, I now understand why you’re on your computer so much!”

And then I realized something remarkable (ok, ‘remarkable’ might be too strong a word, but in my little closed universe it was pretty remarkable). I hadn’t looked at my e-mails all day. I hadn’t even thought to look at my e-mails all day.  And I smiled to myself, told Chloe that I was sure they were mostly garbage (which they were) and luxuriated in the glory of knowing that I had no one expecting to hear from me.

It’s been three months since I left my job.  I now know, with 100% certainty, that I’ve passed the trial period for the Chief Mom Officer position.  I’m in.  All in.