This past weekend, I got the chance to travel back to a time before I had kids and many of my adult life worries. How, you wonder?

My younger sister’s bachelorette party.

We made a weekend of it, complete with a girls’ day and night out on the town. For 24 hours, I was young and carefree, and I even have the temporary tattoo and impulse mall purchase to prove it. We shopped, danced until our feet hurt, ordered late night Jimmy John’s, stayed up until the early morning hours, and basically didn’t move until lunchtime the next day.

It was fun — laughing until my cheeks hurt fun. But I’m glad it’s over.

Even though I loved helping my sister celebrate and pretending to be younger again, I realized how happy I am to be done with that time in my life. If I had the chance to go back in time for real, I’d say no and stay right where I am. I’m not just content with my stay-at-home mom life.

I actually love it.

I love getting hugs from my boys throughout the day, watching them dance around and try new things, and listening to them sing songs and tell stories. I don’t even mind that I spend a lot of my time doing multiple loads of laundry and picking up the never-ending mess of toys. My life is full and sometimes chaotic (I’m not even joking; just a few minutes ago, my toddler came over and spilled water all over both of us. Fortunately, he missed the computer!).

However, this is where I’m supposed to be. Being a mom isn’t my whole life, but it’s a pretty darn big part of it. Of course, it is nice and sometimes even necessary to get away for a bit to regain my sanity and sense of self. I am a big supporter of girls’ nights out, even if it’s just for a quick meal without kids.

No matter what, though, when it comes down to it, this is where I always want to end up — with my family, in our house that’s full of noise and life and love. Nothing can beat that…not even time travel.