Most people know that Shawn and I are avid lovers of "The Office." We think Steve Carell is both a genius and an idiot and that alone sets us into fits of laughter. This past weekend, we went out on a long overdue date. I even got a little dressed up. Shawn wore nice khakis and a Ralph Lauren Polo. We were set! We ate at the new #9 Steakhouse in town and enjoyed it thoroughly. We talked about the restaurant (quintessential Madisonville...pricy, with coal miner pictures adorning the walls), the food, a possible upcoming vacation, and what to do after dinner. We had a sitter til 10 pm! A SITTER TIL T-E-N. After years of fighting 'assimilation' I have given in. I am one of those moms now...one of those...gasp...moms who hire babysitters and...gasp...go OUT for a night. I am neurotic. Correction: I WAS neurotic. Now I am normal...right? I can leave my kids with a babysitter (still write a lengthy note though)...and enjoy a few hours without a fit or a diaper or a sippy cup or a very tense explanation (for the umpteenth time) of why we can't take paint or fingernail polish to the restaurant....I just EXHALED loudly (really). I feel free. Thank God for babysitters. For my sanity, my kids' sanity, my future grandchildren's sanity.... Luckily, I have a couple babysitters who are great (meaning: they tolerate my neuroses). They cut the kids' food up into miniscule bits (per note) and never put Noah John down on the floor (he might eat the hardwood or knaw a leg off the kitchen table). They read them books and work puzzles to challenge and grow their brains (per note)...they limit the tv (I have always feared coming home after a night out to find the kids' in a zombie-like state from which they'll never leave, thus the note mentions limiting tv time). They get the kids to bed easily and even say nighttime prayers...and when I come home I don't feel like The Cat in the Hat has just left...even though I did see that book on the floor Friday night, come to think of it. I'll have to check with the sitter about that. Just to be sure that Cat wasn't here (I have allergies and I think that Noah John probably does, too). Not because I'm still neurotic. But that can wait, at least til I finish this post....
Back to the date, after leaving #9, we headed toward the mall. The shopping experience there is amazing (insert sarcasm) so I figured we would window shop at leisure. Reality hit and I was reminded that shopping there is actually quite disappointing. New plan: we drove to the theatre and checked the listings. We jumped and ran from the van into the movies because Date Night (with aforementioned mentioned Steve Carell) started 10 minutes before we arrived. Go us! I'll admit...we were mildly excited about our spontaneity. We hadn't checked movie times a week prior to the date, for one. We hadn't read movie ratings, for two. It's oddly exciting to not plan apparently. Anyway, we chose to forego popcorn to save time, and found ourselves about 10 rows from the screen, front and center. The movie had obviously juuust started. Perfect. The first clip made us laugh. Out loud. The movie is about a married couple with two small children (like us) and about how they want to get out of the ordinary routine and have a fancy dinner in NYC one night. I won't kill it for ya; I'll just say that they soon realize that all they want is to be back home, in their ordinary house with their ordinary life.... The movie made me ponder some serious stuff...which was odd. A comedy? A Steve Carell comedy? Serious afterthoughts? Puzzling. I ponder...isn't "ordinary" just a beat away from a miracle and, and, really isn't that the best part of it all in the end? Isn't the 'boring' and expected part of marriage and family life the blessed part? That genius/idiot Steve Carell. Thank God for the babysitter and him, too. Irony is so ironic.
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