“It is likely a turn of phrase. If I go to a family funeral and stay overnight to be with the other mourners, my trip may well be described as away because I am “at a funeral” or “for a funeral.”
For which you would have your responsibilities taken care of. Do the kids in the car think “Mom is away because she is at a funeral”?
Or do they think “mom left us in the care of the idiot again for whatever her excuse is this time
Lots of Karening going on here.