Mom's Night Out

Last night, I left my clingy little girl with her daddy for a few hours and got the heck outta Dodge. Leaving my house alone is now an art form in and of itself. She sees me pick up my purse and she knows something's up. She immediately makes a beeline for me. I don't want to just disappear on her, so I pick her up and kiss her goodbye and tell her I'll be back later. Then I pry her surprisingly strong little fingers from my shirt/hair/face and make myself just GO. It's like ripping off a band-aid - you've just got to do it and do it quick or it's a whole lot worse. That's what I tell myself anyway.

After that painful bit was over, I spent over an hour sitting in traffic on the highway trying to get down to the Museum Center for the Cleopatra exhibit. I hate being late for anything and I developed a strong urge to pee about halfway there, so I was kinda stressed by the time I hoofed (and huffed) it up that big old hill from the parking lot into Union Terminal. Luckily for me, only one other mom had made it there before me (and the bathrooms were fairly close to the entrance - whew!)

The rest of the night was up from there. The exhibit was really interesting. Seeing artifacts that are literally thousands of years old just lights up this history nerd's world. The huge seventeen foot statues gave me chills. And it was fun to laugh like schoolgirls with my mommy book club friends over the fact that Cleopatra married her 3 year old son and then cheated on him with Marc Antony. Twisted! Tee hee!

After the exhibit, I had pangs of guilt and almost didn't go to dinner because if I left right then, I could get home on time to put the Bean to bed. I thought about it really hard, then decided it's important for her to learn to do these things with her daddy. Plus, I really wanted to go for totally non-Egyptian burritos with my friends. And I deserved it. Repeated until I believed it (mostly).

I'm really glad I went. Hothead Burritos are pretty good, although I think my burrito heart still belongs to Chipotle. More importantly, I got to spend more time with some really cool ladies. I got to laugh and talk about adorable and frustrating moments with people who really understand and laugh some more. I think I made a college kid who sat behind us blush with my choice of conversation topic at one point. It was a good time. And they have queso dip, quite possibly my favorite food.

On the way home, I got a little bit lost. That's what I get for thinking I know better than the GPS, I guess (you rarely, rarely do, FYI - they've got satellites and tech-y spac-y super-spy-y stuff on their side). Anyway. The drive home was good, quiet, thoughtful time for me. I went through my usual post-social-event panicky moments, wondering if I talked too much, if I said stupid things, if in general I looked/acted/sounded like the socially-challenged person I really am, but am trying not to be forever and ever. In this case especially, I even wondered if I was standing inadvertently in that special acoustic spot in Union Terminal, where what you say, even if you whisper, can be heard across that huge rotunda. If I was, ALLLL those people might have heard me make a fool of myself. Yeah, this really is how my brain works.

I got over the panic. I had fun and I decided to let it just be what it was - a good experience - without trying to dissect it and analyze it. I can't wait for next month's book club meeting, and my next Mom's Night Out. I was kind of glad Josie woke up soon after I got home though, so I could tuck her back in and give her a kiss. I missed that little booger.