My kids went away for an exciting weekend and I didn't even get a lousy t-shirt

I'm sure it happens to most parents eventually. You reach that point when your children's lives become infinitely more interesting than your own. I had my first taste of that this weekend. Abby was in the Poconos for a birthday get-away weekend with the girls (and yes, she's only ten), and Ian was in Solon, Ohio for a Science Olympiad competition. This left Rob and I to our own devices, trying to fill the void left in a house with no children. On Friday night he ditched me to go play poker (not cool, right?), so I left him to spend the night at my parent's house. On Saturday I cleaned the house while he worked, went to the gym, and got a haircut. Do we know how to whoop it up when the kids are gone, or what? To be honest, we did get a little nutty Saturday night with a 7-course Italian meal with free wine at Mama Maria's in "Souf " Philly, but that just left me feeling bloated, woozy, and old.

So I'm wondering if there's an average age at which you wish you could exchange lives with your children. While I don't desire returning to the angst of the teenage years, there are definitely elements I wouldn't mind embracing again, including:

• The nonstop giddiness of time with friends (although the Freakin' Angels do a pretty good job of getting giddy, we still have our fair share of unfortunately heavy issues)
• The thrill of your first crush
• The rush of competition whether it be on the playing field or in pursuit of academic excellence 
• The excitement of new adventures
• The stick figure that I complained about at the time

My sense is that the college years will be the most difficult for me to withstand from an envy perspective.  The combination of higher learning, a new found level of friendships, and that first taste of freedom is literally and figuratively intoxicating. Those college years mean having the whole world open to you with nothing but possibilities. I'd go back to them in a second.

So what say you, fellow Freakin' Angels? When do you think your children's lives will become more interesting than your own? Or are you already there? Or are you one of the lucky ones whose life is so ridiculously exciting that this will never be an issue? Do tell!