Between volunteering at school, soccer practices, cub scout meetings, play dates, music club, and baseball games, it feels like Jenni and I are putting in the time with our kids. While parenting is job one, spousing often takes a back seat. Like so many of our peers, we sacrifice time as husband and wife to be mom and dad.
Which is why what Jenni and I accomplished last August is so remarkable and likely not be duplicated in the near future. For four consecutive Saturday nights, we had babysitting and had plans without the kids. Here’s the recap of our “babysitting streak.”
August 6: Wedding – A young agent in my office was kind enough to include us in her special day. The ceremony and reception were at private residence in rural Murrieta. The invitation specifically warned that once we got off the freeway cell phones would lose reception rendering GoogleMaps useless. The lack of cell phone reception was a bit unnerving (especially for mom) as how would the babysitter contact us in case of an emergency? I reassured Jenni by reminding her that in case of trouble the Pony Express would send a rider or Lassie would come running and barking. My wife did not find this as amusing as I did.
The ceremony was beautiful; young love proclaimed in front of a seeping panorama of desert hills. As I looked around the wedding, I realized that Jenni and I are now on the older side for weddings. I scored very well in hipster BINGO—recording multiple beards, man-buns, plaid shirts, and craft beer references. At dinner the bride placed us at the cool older people table, in my mind anyway. True to our advancing age, Jenni and I left before the DJ got the dance floor rolling.
August 13: Tacotopia – We have some friends who are self-proclaimed “foodies.” Much of their travel/free time/major life decisions are driven by the food that will be available. So it was not surprising that they proposed a date to the Del Mar Fairgrounds on the day 40+ taco trucks would be in the parking lot.
Here’s something I know about myself in buffet or “all-you-can” eat scenarios. I’m overwhelmed with the need to get my money’s worth. Intellectually, I know it’s a Depression Era scarcity mindset, but I can’t help feeling, “if I paid for $40 worth of tacos, by golly I’m going to get $40 of tacos.” I’m not sure what $40 worth of tacos look like, but if I have stomachache I must be getting close. If I down a half dozen more tacos and I’ll actually be making money on this endeavor.
August 20: Birthday Party. A friend was turning 50. To mark the milestone she gave herself the birthday present she wanted—dinner with friends at the The Lodge at Torrey Pines. If Torrey Pines was not an ideal enough setting, dinner was in the private Hughes Cottage with our own wait staff.
The evening started with cocktails on a patio overlooking a fairway pointed at the ocean. As the sun sank into the Pacific, it was one of those moments I needed to remind myself that I live where people go on vacation.
Since the only person I knew at the party was the birthday girl, the probability of small talk was high. But I was wrong. With a family style dinner and smart, interesting people gathered around the table. the conversation was elevated well beyond weather, gas prices, and how it’s impossible to stop at Costco without spending at least $200.
August 27: Summerfest. The Vista Optimist Club hosts a fundraiser with local breweries, wineries, and restaurants. Booths are set up and you can sample the wares. It now occurs to me that August involved eating a lot of good food. Perhaps the babysitting spree was subconscious designed to get a break from our kids’ steady diet of chicken nuggets and Go-gurt.
We were logical attendees at the event as the Optimist Club does a lot for our Little League. As we mingled with our baseball parent contemporaries, we covered the expected topics: baseball, new school year, fall sports the kids were participating in. While not all the guests were on the babysitting streak we were, it was obvious that even when you let mom and dad out of the house, kids will still be on their mind.
That very evening, we made plans to end the streak with an impromptu family trip to Palm Springs next week. It wasn’t lost on me that it was Labor Day weekend and we were back to our jobs as mom and dad—jobs that involve no pay, less freedom, and seemingly endless responsibility. A far cry from our Saturdays of leisure, but sometimes it’s nice to get to back to work.
