Sticky-sweet

I am still glowing from our big night out on Monday. Yes, Dave and I went together to an adult gathering. Yes, we left Luke at home to be put to bed in the care of others. Yes, we had fun, and yes, he did too. Did he miss us? I don't think so. Suzi and Bill had him thoroughly entertained, to the point where they almost had a "Code Blue" when he was laughing so hard he had to be reminded to breathe. And I have to swallow my pride and admit this, but...when he woke up the next morning, the first words out of his mouth were, "Where Suzi and Bill?" and I said, "They had to go home, sweetie," and he burst into tears.

In the meantime, we had a sparkling, twinkly-light kind of dinner with good food and wine and good comedy and beautiful scenery. On the way home down the hill, I saw the entire city shining out before us and I got one of those lumps in my throat and a feeling like, is this real, and am I floating? Once I came down from that high, I also realized - Hey! We could go out on a Saturday night and everyone would still be happy - possibly even happier! Maybe a movie? Dinner? Wheeeeee! Anything's possible!

On a somewhat related note, the three of us went to the our wise doctor this afternoon, and Luke was on his best behavior. When he met the doctor, he shook his hand and said solemnly, "Hi, Doctor." Then he offered, "My name is Luke." Yes - That's my boy! A poster child success story for that office if I've ever seen one. Dr. W., of course, made us feel like everything would be OK, and I came out feeling like we could conquer the world...or maybe just one more tiny infant. Could we do that? I mean, could we really handle that? I had a funny moment in that office where I put my hand on my head and felt a strangely familiar sticky-sweet glop. Yuck - child-sponsored maple syrup in my hair. But then I realized, exactly three years ago I had sat in that same seat and I would have done anything to have child-sponsored anything in my hair.

Dave and his political types might have us ask ourselves, "Are we better off today than we were four years ago?" and I'd have to say yes...yes we are. Covered with syrup, repeatedly sweeping up large piles of sand all over our house, and constantly picking up small plastic tools. Our lives are definitely much improved.