Fresh on the coat-tails of Gina’s great posts about vacationing to Disney World and the all-inclusive 10 tips for vacationing with small children, I’m looking forward to taking a vacation without my daughter.

I haven’t been on a vacation in five years, and next month, I’ll be attending the well-touted BlogHer conference in Chicago.

I could have brought her along, booked her into the childminding and spend three days alternating between speaking, networking, learning and sightseeing. I would have missed the parties, unless I could have arranged in-hotel childcare for the evenings. I would miss spending time with some of the people I’ve most looked forward to meeting for a couple of years. And I probably would’t have felt very relaxed at the end of it.

Instead, this single mom is packing a bag for herself with some clothes, makeup and gifts, and packing a second one with clothes, diapers, stuffed animals and gluten- and dairy-free foods. My daughter is going to be staying with a family I’m close to, with some of our best friends. Two kids around her age, a patient mom, a fun dad – all at her disposal while I party, relax, unwind and work.

I don’t know, honestly, who will have more fun – each of us on our own vacations from the every day. She’ll have a whole host of new toys to play with and get to spend time with some of her favorite people; I’ll get to hug and laugh with people I’ve previously only met online and chatted on the phone with. She’ll be swimming and having tea parties; I’ll be live-blogging and watching friends speak on topics they’re well-informed about.

I’ll miss her, even simply because this will be the longest we’ve been apart, ever. Before this, my last vacation was two years before her birth and she’s only once spent the night away from me. She’ll miss me for the same reasons, I imagine, and I really wonder if she’ll seamlessly slide into the vacation, or if it will be a gigantic struggle for her and everyone else in the house.

Worse is the scheduling of the conference, because I’ll be out of town on the date of her third birthday. Of course, she’s not old enough to know the date – or any dates, really – but that doesn’t make it seem any more right to me, to miss her special day. I’ll be throwing her a birthday party the following weekend, with all of her friends, disposable cameras for the kids to take pictures with, and tons of junk food.

But I think I’ll come home feeling better for the vacation. I’ll be renewed (after any jet-lag wears off), with more patience and I’ll have gotten to miss her – something that never happens around here because the longest she’s usually out of my sight is a few hours. Hopefully, I’ll return not only with career plans in hand, but a firmer grasp of my parenting plans.

As I count down the days and start to prepare her for the long-weekend sleepover, I also wonder another vacation is needed sooner rather than later. Just the two of us.