Here, There and Everywhere
We went out for dinner with friends last nightthe first time we have been out in several weeks, and the first time being “out out” for months. You're probably wondering what I mean by “out out”. I mean a proper night outto a bar, with food, drink, and no children.
The funniest thing happened. We met a little after 8pm, caught up with the stories of the recent past, ordered dinner, had a drink, ate dinner, laughed at each other's stories, ate pudding, had another drink, and then this automatic alarm clock went off in everybody's head.“What time is it?”“It's only 10pm!!”“Shall we get another drink?”“This is weird”“Let's go mad!”“Oh go on then”And so it was that we stayed out until nearly midnight, caught up with old friends, drank more than we have in quite some time, and had our first real, proper night out since we had the kids. It was wonderful, yet very, very strange.
Another weird thing that happened last nightthat moment when your friends arrive, and you normally only ever see them at the school gate, or picking up from after-school clubs, and you realise that actually your friends not only look amazingbut are amazing. You're normally so wrapped up in the mayhem of “being here at this time, getting that from there, and taking it to there for that time”, that you never really get a chance to take things in properly. I made some comment about “you're wearing eye makeup!?”, but what I really wanted to say was “you look fantastic”This morning the fun and games of the night before were but a happy memory as I stood alongside the football pitch with my carboard cup of cappuccino from the garage across the road, watching our 9 year old girl run the boys ragged. I listened to Andy Ihnatko and Dan Benjamin talk about watching retro TV shows on huge TVs to pass the time (the “Ihnatko Almanac” podcast rules).
After trudging home, and making a quick lunch, we all headed off again (our house has resembled a race car pit throughout the week)the younger children and their Mum to the theatre to see Joseph, and me and the eldest to go Christmas shopping. Normally Christmas shopping would be funbut this wasn't really. I had a list.
After spending all afternoon running from shop to shop with Miss 14 in tow, amassing a heavier and heavier collection of bags, we met back up with the theatre-goers, and had dinner together in town (read: avoided cooking and washing up).
I'm now occupying myself with figuring out minimal clothes to pack in my bag for a couple of days working on-site next week. I head out tomorrow evening on the train, destined for the far end of the country once again. The kindle is on charge, the clothes are neatly hung on the back of the door, ready to go in the bag, and I'm wondering what I will forget to pack.
Roll on rugby practice in the morning.