Time Alone

In keeping with the Blue Moon we experienced on May 31, another bizarre phenomenon occurred at my house last night: both children were gone at the same time. Nathan was invited to a birthday party, and the sister of the birthday boy, concerned about the sudden outbreak of boys, asked Sara to come over, too, as an antidote.

This meant that, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, Simon and I would be home alone, together. My mind raced. Hmmm... a romantic dinner out on the patio with lots of one kind of "wine" and none of the other sort of "whine". Then, perhaps...sex. Not the usual bedroom-with-door-closed-late-at-night-need-to-be-quiet kind. I was imagining something a little noisier.

However, expectations being what they are...I zipped out of downtown after work; I dropped the kids off at 5:30, but of course, I needed to make some polite conversation with the mother of the birthday boy; then I rushed home to find that the dishwasher needed to be unloaded and of course the romantic dinner needed to be cooked. I don't know how I managed to delude myself to quite the extent I did. And my poor, oblivious living room romp partner had arrived home early, but was engrossed in the mural he's painting in Nathan's room and was making the most of the 2 child-free hours to work on it.

I did manage to get a meal together out on the patio, with a half-hour to spare for eating it before I had to go and get Sara and Nathan. And there was an abundance of one sort of wine. I tried not to indulge too much in the other kind.

I arrived back at the birthday boy's house, and the hostess asked me, "So, did you enjoy a little child-free time?" "Yes," I thought. "Can you keep them for about ten more hours?" "Yes," I said. "For two hours, I was able to finish every sentence I started." Better than nothing.