What is FUN?

In a very rare turn of events, my husband and I had a day to ourselves; a FRIDAY, nonetheless. We made plans. It would be a day filled with childless fun and meals. We'd go to the movies, have lunch, take a walk through a museum, go skydiving and/or canoeing, maybe catch a few fish and crabs, visit the west coast and attend a wine tasting in Napa Valley, go to France for crepes, and follow that up with a spa day before returning home in time for the kid to be dropped off in a few hours (ALL the grandiose ideas). Our day was going to be epic!!! It isn't often that we get adult time. I'm our kid's childcare provider, preschool teacher, and personal jungle gym, so Grey and I are practically still attached by the umbilical cord. Stem cells all up and through this jank. 

Once I strapped my baby into his car seat and smothered his face with kisses, I sprinted into my house from the driveway because every kid free second matters. I looked at my husband the same way I must've looked at my mom on Christmas mornings when I was "minier" Shantel (because I'm still quite mini) and squealed, "So what are we gonna do!?!" Our itinerary was set. We were going all out! Dating by daylight! We were gonna flex all of our grown-up muscle.

Note: I've yet to understand the science behind the instant fatigue that presents itself when your child is away. I went from Energizer Bunny to Eeyore by the time I finished lunch. And did I mention how much better food tastes when you're eating without a toddler present? That sushi tasted like Jesus caught the shrimp on Bubba's boat with His bare hands and got Mary Magdalene to coat them bad boys with Jerusalem's finest gluten free tempura batter. Girl. 

After lunch, I convinced my husband to go to an olive oil shop (yeah, that's a thing and it's awesome). Needless to say, he enjoyed that about as much as a root canal performed by Steve Martin's character on "Little Shop of Horrors." The plan following lunch was to catch a movie. Yeah. About that. Our day ended up being a day STILL dedicated to our toddler. When movie times didn't match the time we'd allotted ourselves before getting back home, we decided to go shopping for the boy. Le sigh. This entire day proved that we are indeed hopeless when it comes to childless adult fun. The biggest accomplishment of that glorious Friday was flashing back to our dating days to handle some SPONTANEOUS grown folk business. Because hey, spontaneity is everything and God's gift to a happy nuptial agreement. Ha! Maybe we'll get better at kid free days when we recoup from the sleepless nights of our son's infancy coupled with the only downside of potty training. 'What's that?' you ask. Our son waking in the wee hours to use the loo with the grace of a bull in a China shop. Until then, childless days will probably look something like: food, couch, Netflix (something with insane amounts of cussing because we have to remind ourselves that our TV still allows it), kid's back home, we're all on the couch watching one of the 65 DVR'd episodes of Paw Patrol while eating kettle corn. Life is sweet.