World War Zzzzzz....

I remember spending an evening with my grandparents when Mom and Dad would go out for an anniversary, birthday, or just a night out.  My grandparents were responsible for some of my most memorable moments.  You could get away with things at Grandma's that you just couldn't at home.  We made triple-decker sandwiches, built tents out of the couch cushions, and best of all, we put ice-cream on our Tostino's Party Pizzas.

  I went through a Ninja Turtle phase. If you don't understand, then I'm sorry your childhood sucked.

Fat chance doing any of that stuff at home.  I remember thinking how lame my parents' nights out were.  They just went out for dinner and came back.

LAME.

Then I had kids.  Now I realize how special a dinner sans kids is.  It's the little things that make a night out so memorable.  Little things like being able to eat a steak dinner on a place-mat that doesn't double as a maze/word-search/coloring book.   Or, not having to ask the waiter if they have both chocolate and whole milk.  Or, being able to complain about how loud other parents' kids are.  Or, not having to negotiate with my fellow diners over how many more bites they need to take.

  Okay, so I actually enjoy doing the word searches. Caleb always beats me to the mazes.

When it came time to take Rachel out for her birthday I knew a nice dinner without kids would be well appreciated.  What I didn't expect was what she wanted to do after.  Having polished off our steak and drinks (our table actually had a tablecloth on it!) we headed to the car.  "What do you want to do now?", I asked.  "I don't know.  Let's head home."

If I was telling this story at the gym, that's where I'd quit talking.  But I'm not at the gym (not now or ever really) so let's keep it real.  On the way home we stopped by Redbox and picked up World War Z.  And, since this was supposed to be a "Date Night", we made it official by stopping by Wal-Mart on the way home and picking up some groceries.  When we arrived home, Rach offered me a couple of choices.  I suggested a third:

With my bright idea eliminated that left us with the two things she really wanted to do:

1.  Watch a movie

2. Take a nap

Yes, our big night out was going to end with us either taking a nap or watching a movie on the couch, which would, most likely, result in at least one of us taking a nap.  Now I understand my parents' lameness all those years ago.  The joy of watching a movie without hundreds of interruptions (for something to drink, something to eat, somebody hit me, I pooped on the carpet) can only be surpassed by the greater joy of taking a nap in a quiet house.  Let's pop that movie in and fall asleep.