40 Minutes

So the other evening, Mom-E and Dad-E went on a nice little date.

We have some good friends with two boys who are the same ages as Big Brother and Bab-E Brother, and the 5 boys enjoy playing together.  So, from time to time, their boys come over to our house while their parents go out on a date, and vice-versa.

Side note - everyone has a good time when they come over, and Mom-E and I have gotten a glimpse of what it would be like to have 5 boys between the ages of 2 and 7.

*Hold on a minute...I need to go take a nitro.*

(Seriously, the boys are all well behaved, it's just loud, controlled chaos at times.)

Anywho, so Mom-E and I are driving on our date.  We're going to quickly get a sandwich and then catch a movie.

Suddenly, I look at the clock on the dashboard and realize, "We only have 40 minutes to eat and get to the movie!"

Still being in "parent mode", I mentally break down our to-do tasks.  Mom-E and I have 40 minutes to accomplish the following:

1. Get out of the car.

2. Walk into the restaurant.

3. Order our food.

4. Get our food.

5.  Eat our food.

6.  Go to the bathroom.

7.  Walk back to the car.

8.  Get into the car.

9.  Drive to the movie theater (about 5 minutes away).

10.  Park at the movie theater.

11.  Get out of the car (again).

12.  Wait in line for tickets.

13.  Find our theater.

Of course, as you can imagine, Mom-E and I actually breezed through our "to-do" list, with ample time for leisurely, laughable dinner conversation, an extra bathroom break, and enough time to make an extra stop at the grocery store to do all of the weekly shopping.

Okay, so we didn't actually go to the grocery store, but we were not pressed for time.

Apparently, I forgot that when it's just two adults, 40 minutes is an ETERNITY!

Granted, if the boys were with us we'd have to add about 6 more "Go to the bathroom" steps, and a couple more for the eating step, including:

a.  Dance on the tables.

b.  Run around the restaurant screaming like wild monkeys.

I'll clarify that joke by saying I'm just joking.  At least about item (a).

But it's true that what took Mom-E and I 40 minutes probably would've taken us about 2 hours as a family.

And I'm cool with that.

Trust me, a date with Mom-E every now and again is refreshing and relaxing and, well, VERY NECESSARY.

But I still like the joyful chaos.

Have a good week,

Busy-Dad-E