Remember that ’80s show Out Of This World with the girl who was a half alien and had that weird cube-like contraption that she talked to and could stop time with her fingers?

Well, the ’80s were a really weird time, for sure, but that superpower? That’s one that I’d really like to have. I would put my two index fingers together at least once a day and then I’d do all of the things I don’t have time for in a normal day. Laundry, organizing, photo editing, marketing, curling my hair, binge watching tv shows, biking, reading books, writing books, actually filling out my children’s baby books, learning to use a sewing machine, learning to code, learning to apply eyeliner.

Yes. I want this superpower.

See also: time travel.

Josh said he would like to have the power of luck.

And I’ll admit that I thought that was a bit of a strange leprechaun-y choice, but as I sat at my kitchen table having a pasta dinner date with my only son, I kind of got it. Luck. “Imagine! You drive to a busy movie theater in the dead of winter and instead of having to drive around the lot forever or having to walk forever, BAM! there’s the perfect spot right out front!”

“Yes. I really would like that. Winter is cold in Toronto.”

“Also, luck…like being lucky that I had sushi for lunch today AND my sisters are gone. PS, I’d also like to fly, have superhuman strength, and be able to heal myself and others.”

Josh is feeling lucky that the girls are off to camp. Isabella is gone for 2 weeks and Emily for almost 4. Isabella’s goodbye to me was a little lot on the weepy side but I know that once she’s on the bus from Ann Arbor to Waupaca, Wisconsin**, she’s going to have the time of her life and that she’ll beg to stay for longer than the two weeks she’s going for.

I will miss the girls like nuts. Like mad, even. They are little pieces of me, my children, and when they are gone it feels like I imagine amputees feel about their missing limbs—part of me is missing, but I can still feel it.

Also, let’s be honest, I’m losing a really fantastic photography assistant.

But I remember last year what a tremendous gift it was for me to spend 3.5 weeks with Isabella while her brother and sister were off at camp. She loved being an only child, sure, but I loved being able to have her all to myself. I learned so much about her in those few short weeks—who she is as Isabella, not just Emily and Josh’s younger sister, not just the baby.

I can’t wait to have the same with Josh. I want to learn everything I can about him, and not just about his favorite superpowers.

I guess I’m actually the one who is lucky. 

**Of course I was right. All smiles. No tears.