Olivia heard me talking about work, in a conversation which included the word assistant. "I can be your assistant, Mommy," she offered. "I want to go to work with you every day."

Cute, so cute.

"How lovely!" I said. "How will you assist me?"

"I don't know," she answered.

"Maybe you could make follow up calls for me?" I asked.

"I don't know how to use the phone," she reminded me.

"Maybe you could file some papers alphabetically?" I continued.

"I don't know what that means," she responded.

"Maybe you could return some e-mails on my behalf?" I suggested.

"I don't know how to type and I can't spell without your help," she countered.

"I see," said Mommy, the prospective employer. "What kinds of things could you assist me with?"

"I could watch Netflix in your office while you work!" she enthusiastically proposed.

That doesn't sound very helpful. Neither did Claus' alternative, which was "sit there and look cute." Haven't we all worked around people who think that's actually a real job description?

I redirected the conversation to being my assistant at home: folding her clean clothes and making her bed. Yes, that's helpful and cute at the same time!

We're going through a tiny speedbump in the road of childhood. Olivia has been disobedient for a week-long streak. It's minor, and it will pass. In the meantime, I'm trying various methods of getting the lesson to her.

One thing I said was that Mommy has to follow the rules, too. "When I go to work, I have to do what my boss tells me to do. If I don't, the punishment is much worse than time-out," I said.

"What happens to you?" she asked.

"If I'm really bad and I don't listen for a long time, I could get fired!" I said. "Fired means they kick you out from your job and you have to find a new one!"

She looked scared on my behalf. "I don't want you to get fired!" Olivia exclaimed.

I was flattered at her empathy and thinking that maybe she's finally going to start being obedient at home. Silly me for thinking that.

"You have good brunch that you get to eat. And a nice pool. I want you to keep working there," Olivia said. "You keep being a good girl."

Terrific. Now my priorities have been straightened out and I know why I have to keep this job.

The doctor was right. Having the house to myself for nearly a week while my husband and child went on vacation was really the perfect prescription for fatigue. I had gone in worried about myself because it seemed like an unusually long stretch of time that I'd been tired. The doctor said I probably just work too much.

By coincidence, Claus wanted to go skiing in December and was intent on going even if I didn't want to. It was fine with me. I didn't want to devote an extra ounce of energy to even packing a suitcase and flying on a plane, even if it meant having - in theory- fun once there. We used to have a fair amount of help but situations change, and now we go it alone with the exception of a babysitter for a couple of jujitsu nights every week.

So they were set to leave, and I was both sad and looking forward to some Me Time. I wasn't filling up my dance card for every available time slot. My goal was just to have some quiet time, and hold down the fort.

Olivia in ski school

To my utter surprise, all my energy came back to me right away, the very next day, which was Saturday. It was like the pre-mommy me.

I did what I wanted all weekend, didn't worry about cooking people's meals, didn't worry about someone getting kidnapped/hurt/hit by a car, wasn't required to think a step or two ahead, took a nap, went out with friends if I wanted, went out with my dog if I wanted, stayed out way later than I normally would, and in general, just really relished the freedom.

Keeping me company

It was like crack for my calendar. A massage for my brain. Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

I took a trip with Olivia and we left Claus behind, in 2010. He said he remembers having more energy, but not as extreme a reaction as I've had. I think women are usually the primary caregivers to the very young children, but even if it were an equal split, I still think women's brains function differently than men's. Our multi-core processors are constantly engaged, whereas I think men are simpler, more linear thinkers.

I don't know. I could be wrong. Maybe it's because Claus is in better physical shape than me and therefore can withstand the demands of parenting better than I.

I'm shocked at how much parenting takes out of me. I guessed at it, but I didn't know until now!

The work week flew by, maintaining the theme of severely enjoying doing things on my own time. I didn't have to drop someone off at school or daycare. I didn't have to try to leave work by 5 so I could adhere to the family routine, schedule, and obligations. I carried on like the person I was before I was married.

I did not expect this much fun. I think I had more fun than Claus, frankly. He was tired.

Don't get me wrong. I missed them. It wasn't one emotion or the other; it was both. I missed them but I liked visiting with - as my friend Paul puts it - Fun Diane. It's been a long, long time. Five, six years?

Here's the thing. I think there's good and bad in every situation, and the key is to have balance. I wouldn't want to be single again. I wouldn't want to not have Olivia in my life, either.

I like my life. I also liked the week off because I knew it was a short-term deal, and that I'd soon resume my regularly scheduled programming - even if it wears me out. I enjoy raising my child, and I accept that the price of admission is lots of time and energy. I try to be in this moment as fully as I can because nothing lasts forever.

Although... I wouldn't object to another Daddy/Daughter trip in a year from now. Fun Diane wants to come out to play more than once every five years.

Have you experienced this?

I was driving from the airport towards Kalihi, via Nimitz Highway. Kalihi feels a little like home to me because I worked at KHNL, located in Kalihi, for 13 years. In particular, the old KHNL building at 315 Sand Island Access Road is like home. I have so many fun and good memories of working there for 12 of those 13 years.

As the car pulled off the freeway, I told Olivia, "Keep looking on the right side of the road. We're going to pass Mommy's old work pretty soon. When you were in my tummy and then when you were born, you used to visit me there."

Headed eastbound on Nimitz Highway in Kalihi

We first came to a warren of warehouse buildings. "Is it that?" she asked.

"No, just past that. A little more," I said.

"This blue building?" she asked.

"No, further up," I answered.

The old KHNL - white building at corner

The building is slightly set back from the road, so she didn't see it. Her eyes went to the building right after, and she asked, "You used to work at McDonald's?"

Well, not quite! I did volunteer there as a drive-through server for Kids' Day one year, though.

You want fries with that?

It's become a tradition. Every year, KITV's Paul Drewes and I throw a Halloween party at Affordable Casket & Moanalua Mortuary. This year's party was a blast, as usual. We had such terrific guests who are the reason for the event's success!

(Yes, it's early this year. It's the only Saturday Paul and I both had off at the same time.)

It started in 2009 when we were laid off from our jobs at KHNL. Always ones to view life with a heavy does of irreverence, we wanted to hold a funeral for our KHNL careers. That year, the party was comprised mostly of KHNL coworkers and people we knew through KHNL. About 70 people attended.

We did not know how it would go, but it was a surprising success, so we decided to make it an annual event. In the years since, it's grown, changed, evolved slowly. We have added on a psychic reading as a guest amenity, and offer a tour of the mortuary for the curious.

Darin, Melissa Kurpinski the psychic, Claus

The guest list has expanded to include the people we work with now: my hotel coworkers and the folks I interact with via public relations; and Paul with his KITV friends, where he's a morning anchor/ reporter. There's a smattering of relatives, jujitsu club members, mommy friends, and my high school pals. Primarily, though, it's media people. I like all the worlds I circulate in. It's just logical that most of the contacts I have are from TV, having spent 16 years in it.

Cindy Paliracio, Paul N, Paul Drewes, Tabitha

I enjoy my current job, but I also loved my old one. TV was a career path I chose, not fell into. Though there were elements over the years that I grew disillusioned with, my passion for the craft and the liberal characters it attracts remains to this day. It's a fun business. Which is why it was and always is special to mingle with my former colleagues or meet new ones.

KITV reporter Catherine Cruz and Claus

A special thanks to Maile for helping me tremendously before, during and after; Jan for loaning me boxes of decorations, Rep. Tom Brower for helping clean a LOT, and Mike & Christy for making an ice run.

I'm already thinking about next year, but for now, here's a few of the night's snaps to share:

The party hosts + a party crasher

College graduate Diane and Chef Claus

Some of the KHNL friends

Hawaii News Now anchor Teri Okita, KITV producer Anna Gomes

Howard Dashefsky, Tabitha Mitchell, Malika Dudley, Kaimi Judd

American Lung Association Hawaii Chapter's Executive Director Lorraine Leslie; State Rep. Mark Takai; Mark's daughter

Jo, testing out the EternaSlumber mattress

Nancy, Kaimi Judd, KITV anchor Yunji DeNies

The chapel's reception area