The ever so sacred Girl's Night Out

Before I was a mother, I rarely felt the need for a girl's night out. Although I worked 40+ hours a week, I was perfectly content to spend the weekends and evenings at home. Home was my break, my rest place. Yes, I had some light housework to do, but frankly, there wasn't much. Since I hate cleaning and we lived on two salaries, we had a cleaning lady. So, other than laundry, cooking, and whatever school work I brought home, I spent most my time at home relaxing. 


I spent a lot of time with hubby. On weekends, we'd either go out on dates, go to parties, or on double dates. About once every few months, I'd go out and grab a bite to eat with a girlfriend, see a chick flick, or go shopping with my mom, mother-in-law, or sister-in-laws. 


If I did need some quality girl time, I could always travel! About 6 years ago, my sis and I took a sister's trip to San Francisco. Also, about once or twice a year, I'd travel to go see some of my closest girlfriends. We are all spread out now in places like New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 


A regular girl's night out was just not in place back then. Probably because I knew I could go out whenever I wanted. 


Now I am a stay at home mom. Home is my work place and my rest place. Who am I kidding? Mostly my work place!  This fact really hit home yesterday. 


After spending 3 hours practicing animal cupcakes (pics posted on my FB page!! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Addicted-Mommy/277475352313970), I picked my son up from preschool. I coaxed him into the car without a fight (phew!), and gave him his lunch to eat in the car. When we got home, the tantrums began. He didn't want to get out of the car so just getting him inside the house was challenging. Once I got him in, it was just about time for nap. Enter: the naptime battle. After I finally, FINALLY, got him in his bed and closed the door, I breathed a quick sigh of relief and started tackling my to do list. 


First on the list is always: eat lunch. Yes, I have to put this on my list. By this time, it was about 2:00pm and I still hadn't eaten. As I sat down to eat my lunch, I noticed the baby monitor going crazy. I could hear the thumping sound of my child jumping on his bed. I could also hear his loud chipmunky voice singing at the top of his lungs. "I'll give him until 3:15", I told myself, "Maybe he'll fall asleep by then!" 


After over an hour and numerous check-ins, I realized this kid wasn't going to sleep. I was so tired I could barely keep my head up and had not gotten to anything on my to do list!!! SO FRUSTRATING! 


 Fast forward to 6:00pm. I was looking forward to getting A to bed early since he skipped nap. I fed him dinner and was about to start on dinner for hubs and I when the phone rang. It was the hubby, telling me he'd be late. 


Ok, breathe in, breathe out. This meant I'd now be responsible for every single nighttime battle too. Just the fight to get him into the bathtub resulted in a 30 minute tantrum and crying spree. (The boy, not me, although I seriously thought about crying too!) Eventually I got him in the bath and ready for bed. For some reason, he didn't want me to leave his room at bedtime so he decided to cry and scream then too. Luckily, the child must have been so exhausted that he quickly passed out. 


About 7:45, I finally sat down and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. The hubby showed up around 8:30pm and of course, everything was done. When I told him I had a bad day, he just couldn't fathom it. According to him, I didn't have to go to work and I got a 3 hour break in the morning while our son was in preschool, so how could my day had been bad? 


How indeed????


Back to my original topic: girl's night out. As you can see from the story above, I now LIVE for girl's night outs. Or ANY girl time I can get! It's become such an important part of my life. I live for the chance to dress up and have a peaceful meal (and wine!!!!)  with my closest friends. I know most of my momma friends feel the same way. 


How far would you go for a girl's night out? Would you risk your life? 


I did. 


A few weeks ago, I found out my sis was coming to town for President's Day weekend. She is 13 months younger than me and my best friend. I love to go out to dinner with her when she visits. This time, I decided to invite two of my momma friends along. We spent the entire week before talking about how excited we were to get out and go to one of our favorite sushi restaurants.


The night finally arrived. The whole day there had been miserable weather and there was a chance of snow at 9pm that evening. Around 5pm, it started snowing. "Dammit!" I thought.


 "I hope my friends don't want to cancel!" I told my sister, "I'll text them, but I doubt they'll cancel. One has three kids, one has two under the age of 3! I'm sure they need to get out. Besides, the roads don't seem too bad."


I texted both  of them and lo and behold, both mommas still wanted to go out. Sis and I barely thought twice about our decision to go. The snow was light, my sis has an SUV, and we're from the North so we KNOW how to drive in snow. 


As we drove towards the restaurant, the weather got worse and worse. Still, I didn't even think about turning around. We were so close to our GNO and we'd been looking forward to eating sushi ALL week. When we went to get off the exit, the car was swerving all over the place. You see, in the south they are not prepared for bad weather so the roads are not taken care of as swiftly as they are in the north. 


The roads were so bad, I called my friend and told her we were going home. (The other momma was in the car with us). Although she was already at the restaurant, she agreed. We drove 20 miles an hour back to my house. It took us about an hour and it was the longest hour of my life. The roads were slick and the snow and ice were still coming down. 


At the time, I saw my life flashing before my eyes. Now I just think it's hilarious that we were willing to put our lives in jeopardy just for the chance of a nice 2 hour meal without the hubbies or the kids. Not that I blame us. Girl's night out really is that sacred. 


By the way,  we've rescheduled dinner for this weekend. There is a zero percent chance of snow.    ;)