Pulling a George Costanza

For the most part, I am a responsible person.

When the weekend arrives, my husband and I often attend the kids sports activities, putter around the house cooking and doing chores. We work in the yard, mow the lawn, grocery shop, do laundry and every now and again, host dinner parties for friends and family. All in all, I'd say we are a rather fairly typical American couple with three pre-teen/teenage children. We are happy, domestic and busy.

And comfortably boring.
We've become that word I always thought of when I thought about old age:
PREDICTABLE.

But last weekend, I decided it was time for us to "Pull a Costanza", and do the opposite of the domestic routine we'd fallen into.

My subtly amazing husband was all set to go outside and mow the lawn Sunday morning, when I surprised him with a spur of the moment suggestion:

Bloody Mary Sunday at The Lompoc downtown Portland.

So at 11: AM, we drove to NW 23rd, bought a copy of the Sunday Paper, slipped on our sunglasses and hung out on the back patio of the Lompoc, sipping savory $3 Bloody Mary's.

Romantic. Relaxing. Sublime.

I sometimes forget how to be spontaneous. I often find myself feeling melancholoy and wistful when I don't have my children... missing them so much that I can't really relax and enjoy time with just my husband. When I'm in Mommy Mode, I'm a different person. With all of the time we spend managing a family budget, cleaning, caring for the house and car and family, it's easy to forget about relaxing and hanging out together, like we did before we married.

Try doing something the opposite of what you usually do, every once in a while.
It helps keep life interesting.