A Night Out is in Order!

OK...I am one day shy of it being a full month since I posted something. It is life! Life is so busy. I really do hate it when the days on the calendar start filling up. A lot of it is work. Summer is over and I am back working in earnest until Christmas Break. A lot of it is school stuff. With a kindergartner among us, my dear hubs and I find ourselves busy monitoring homework, attending PTA meetings, helping with Mitchell's first fundraiser, and managing all the paperwork we find in his backpack each day. A lot of it is family stuff. This is the fun stuff. Day trips to the ocean, birthday parties for friends of the kidlets, swimming at Auntie's or Grandparents.

I do notice that there is one thing clearing missing from the little boxes on the calendar. There is no date night. The dear hubs and I have not blocked off anytime for us. We have time noted for our friends independent of each other. I had a knitting adventure with my Mom written in. The dear hubs has a dinner with his buddies planned. But there is no time for him and me. A time to just sit and have a nice dinner without the constant, "What is this? I don't want this? I don't like green beans! Can I have more milk? Wait, I mean MAY I have more milk PLEASE? He is looking at me! Ellie totally has a booger in her nose! He made me spill my milk!" And, maybe catch a movie that isn't animated...though I am pretty big on Disney and Pixar. We could grab a coffee and people watch. We could wander the aisles of the bookstore at leisure. Everything could be in slow motion.

What would likely happen is we would eat our quiet dinner too fast because we are programmed that way now. We would talk about the kids and wonder what they were doing at that moment. I would squeeze in a trip to Target to get a few household items before we hit the bookstore where I would find the cutest picture books that I just know the kids would love. We would collapse in chairs at Starbucks at the end of the evening and marvel at the energy of youth and quietly question their clothing and piercings. We would begin to look at our watches a bit too anxiously. One of us would suggest we probably ought to go pick up the kids. We would reminisce about our quiet and relaxing night out. We would say we should do it again very soon. Then, as we park in front of the house, we would quickly steal a glance and each. Very quietly I will say, "Sweetie?" He will reply, "Yes?" And, I will say, "I am going to beat you in and get the first hugs and kisses!" We will both exert more energy than we have in days and rush to greet our children with the unconditional love found only in parents and puppies!