"just have an hour to be me. Not a mother, not a wife, not an employee--just me."

That sounds like heaven! I think one of the hardest things about being a mom is feeling responsible 24/7- even if someone else has the kids for a little while, I'm nearly always the one who arranged it, and I'm usually wondering in the back of my mind how they are doing. Even when I'm asleep I'm still listening for the kids in case they wake up. Someone at preschool the other day commented that kids are much harder to take care of than those eggs they used to make kids carry around in 7th grade, and we all laughed ruefully.