We're Doin' It Up Tonight, WooHoo

Yesterday afternoon I was chatting online with my bestest friend Allison while she wasn’t working at the office and I wasn’t paying attention to my kids. Evie was particularly precocious after school and Abbie didn’t take her usually long nap so she was pissy all day and I was waiting for Todd to get home so that I could hand the baby to him and say, “Here. She’s yours for the next hour.” And then like Noah’s first glimpse of dry land that led him to know instantly that things were right with the world, I got an email from Allison saying that she was going to come babysit my kids tonight so that Todd and I can go on a date.

There’s nothing anyone could do for me right now that could make me happier. My usual Saturday night consists of Todd falling asleep to a Mets game on the couch in the living room and me falling asleep with a book in my hand in bed. SOMETIMES we get wild and drink some wine and watch a movie. SOMETIMES we get extra crazy and order a movie on pay-per-view. I think that the last time Todd and I went on a date was for his birthday. In June.

The other morning, on my way to drop Evie off at school, I was feeling sort of old and unexciting and pretty dull. And I realized that I haven’t done my hair, like really styled it, since my wedding. I haven’t blown it out, used a hot-iron, or even come close to my tresses with a curling iron or other styling tool in a VERY. LONG. TIME. I also noticed that same day that I am getting wrinkles. Yup. They’re starting to appear underneath my eyes. It’s undeniable. Despite the hundreds and hundreds of dollars of age-defying eye cream that everyone says I don’t need, my eyes have undeniably defied the claims and are starting to age.

So I was obviously feeling a little off this week and this night out couldn’t come at a better time. We’re getting a night away from the kids and some time to eat a quiet meal together without cheerios getting thrown at my head and having to refill a sippy cup with apple juice for the seventeenth time. There’s a new Japanese restaurant right in our neighborhood that we’ve been dying to try. There’s a bottle of warm Sake there with my name on it.

It’s really weird to still feel like a kid and then everywhere you turn be reminded of the fact that you’re not SO young anymore. My hips are wider than I think they are and my face looks older than I remember it. I. CUT. COUPONS. And sweep my front porch everyday. I always have a packet of tissues in my purse and I only see the sun come up these days because I’m awake before it rises, not because I haven’t even thought about going to bed yet. I discuss the benefits of all natural and organic cleaning products with anyone who’ll listen and actually have very clear and defined opinions about which toilet bowl cleanser is the best. I can’t stand MTV anymore and Todd and I can complain together for hours about “kids today”. My XM radio is preset to the 90s station who’s motto is “If you lived it, you get it.” I do get it. And it pisses me off.

So let us all raise a glass to Allison for making it a little easier to accept that I’m an old fart.