too old for a solo car date?
One of our christmas presents from ma and pa Archibald was a set of IKEA folding chairs so that we could more comfortably seat our weekly bible study crew without resorting to a sewing bench and several upturned buckets. Well, the present was more of a promise of folding chairs, since IKEA is far away. Specifically, we would go pick out the folding chairs, and Dan's mom would watch the baby and provide financial reimbursement.
So this evening Dan, Tom, and I giddily waved goodbye to Harvey and piled into Dan's mom's station wagon headed for IKEA. My heart beat quickly with the promise of linden-berry tort and an undisturbed hour wandering tiny Scandinavian apartments. I was so giddy with the thought of adult furniture shopping that literally skipped through the parking lot into the store. But after a few short moments inside my outlook totally changed. The store was filled with mothers and babies.. babies being pushed in carriages, babies being carried in front packs... babies lovingly cradled by their fathers sitting on couches of model living rooms. waaaaaAAAAAAA-I-WANT-MY-BABY!!! WHERE'S MY BABY??? I MISS MY BABY!!!
It seems that becoming a mother has limited my attention span for adult activities. Time away from Harvey that is pleasurable = about 45 minutes. After that I start to fidget, I get visibly cranky, I spin my wheels any way I can until I can fly back to H's sticky embrace.
Seventeen million hours later, we managed to buy not only five folding chairs for fifteen dollars a piece, but a desk set for Tom, several picture frames, and an array of baby-proofing safety equipment. And to see me fly out of the car when we pulled into Grandma's driveway... well, let's just say that I didn't bother getting too dignified during my precious hours of adult time.
Fortunately Harvey still had some kisses left over for me.