I know I'm not going to win any friends by admitting this, but I have a place to escape. I feel the need to apologize for having it because I know most people don't have an outlet and feel completely trapped right now. On the other hand, I'm no fool and there's no way guilt is going to stand between me and a completely empty house. I also realize that many husbands would not insist (drink) I pack a bag and leave him with five kids so I can have a night to myself. Yes, I am lucky. I married an actual nice guy and have access to my mom's house half the year while she is in Florida. I'm sorry. And I am also acutely aware of my good fortune.
Now that you all hate me, the point in admitting this is to paint a picture of what a mother of five does when given an entire night TO HERSELF. I decided to exercise some degree of responsibility and brought my laptop so I could write a blog without interruption. Interestingly, I was completely distracted. Visions of painting my nails without Eleanor demanding a manicure, and binge watching one of those Netflix series I keep hearing about, kept interfering with my train of thought. Ironic. Maybe I should read a book. Or knit something. I don't knit. I could take a walk - just like that, I could walk out the door without kids hanging onto my legs begging me not to leave the house. So I did.
I walked a long time so, as one does, I went to the market and loaded up on way more food than I needed to consume in one night. Because I earned it with all that exercise. Then my party for one began. Out came the champagne I had packed to celebrate the night of solitude. Champagne goes down quickly. Before I knew it, I had laid out a spread of food worthy of a small dinner party and continued to sip away and snack (drink) while watching I-don't-even-remember-what on TV.
Then things got a little crazy. If I wasn't going to write, I could at least film some material for my blog, I reasoned.
'Wow!' I thought when I played it back after filming, 'I can really jam!' The next morning I was mortified for myself. I almost deleted it, but then remembered how much everyone seemed to enjoy the ridiculous vacuum performance I posted, so to assuage the guilt I felt for taking a night to myself, I figured I'd throw all dignity out the window and post it.
I keep reading about people doing these really awesome things like paying for peoples' groceries, and (drink) playing instruments out their windows to spread joy. Our police sergeant reads virtual stories to kids each night, a local restaurant gives food to those in need, our after school childcare program dropped off Easter baskets. And here I am shooting embarrassing videos (drink) in hopes of spreading laughter (even if it is at me rather than with me) to add some levity to our plight. Just doing my part.
To that end, in addition to being a really nice guy, James is also a math geek. He loves when calendar dates do something cool mathematically, and when we watch the Biggest Loser, he can calculate (drink) the percentage of body weight the contestants loose before they reveal it. He also finds it fascinating to figure out things like the number of seconds he's been alive. So today was a pretty big day for him. And me - because playing along with this particular momentous numerical occasion was a great excuse to open a good bottle of wine. According to a math geek app he has, it is the 10,000th day of us dating (drink). And here's hoping that after he sees the video I posted, it won't be our last!
