Out To Dinner
Last night, we had dinner with two other couples at someone's house. Everyone was older than me and, in fact, it seemed that one of the men has had nine lives. Each story began with a different description, like "My roommate at Dallas Seminary . . . " Or "When I lived in New England . . . " Or "Back in Seattle . . ."
I felt so completely beige, as if I had nothing interesting to say because I've had no interesting experiences (which is not true, not really, but "interesting" is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?). And when you are a mother who stays home and takes care of her children, people assume you are a blank, dusty chalkboard. Sometimes you are, but I like to think there is more to me than fixing grilled cheese sandwiches and refereeing fights over Nintendo.
Fortunately, I have a stock answer to the question he asked: "What is your favorite movie?"** And I hated both of his favorite movies ("Somewhere in Time" and "Chariots of Fire"), but I wisely kept my mouth shut.
The conversation was lively and soon we'd spent three hours chatting and so my husband abruptly said, "Oh my, it's 11 p.m., we must get home to our babysitter." And we all left at once since we rode in the fancy-schmancy vehicle belonging to our dinner companions.
Tonight, I went to dinner with three women friends from church. I was by far the oldest at this dinner. I could be the mother of one of the women, in fact, if I'd had a child while I was a teen. Because I have a two year old, I find myself rubbing shoulders with other mothers of two year olds, but they are usually more than ten years my junior. I am so haggard and aged.
I asked S., "How long have you been married?" And she said, "Ten years." D. has been married seven years, and A., a mere one year. I've been married seventeen years. That's a long time.
After dinner, I ran a few errands and ended up shivering at the local outdoor produce store, searching for a pumpkin to carve. From the road, it looked like there were a bunch of pumpkins, but upon closer inspection, they were all rotten and cracked and mushy. I had neglected pumpkin hunting earlier, so I settled on two medium white pumpkins and one oblong orange pumpkin. The pickings were mighty slim, which is what happens if you wait until October 30th to find a pumpkin. Lesson learned.
We may or may not go to church tomorrow. Babygirl is recovering from a sudden and vicious cold. I think she'll be all right, but you never know. But this is my favorite night of the year, better than Christmas Eve! It's the night we get an extra hour of sleep . . . or in my case, an extra hour to read! (Now, please, someone send the memo to my children. They usually fail to observe the "extra hour of sleep" rule and just get up at the regular time (which is now an hour earlier!).
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**My favorite movie? "Schindler's List," which is profound on so many levels. I love the story of redemption it tells.
I felt so completely beige, as if I had nothing interesting to say because I've had no interesting experiences (which is not true, not really, but "interesting" is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?). And when you are a mother who stays home and takes care of her children, people assume you are a blank, dusty chalkboard. Sometimes you are, but I like to think there is more to me than fixing grilled cheese sandwiches and refereeing fights over Nintendo.
Fortunately, I have a stock answer to the question he asked: "What is your favorite movie?"** And I hated both of his favorite movies ("Somewhere in Time" and "Chariots of Fire"), but I wisely kept my mouth shut.
The conversation was lively and soon we'd spent three hours chatting and so my husband abruptly said, "Oh my, it's 11 p.m., we must get home to our babysitter." And we all left at once since we rode in the fancy-schmancy vehicle belonging to our dinner companions.
Tonight, I went to dinner with three women friends from church. I was by far the oldest at this dinner. I could be the mother of one of the women, in fact, if I'd had a child while I was a teen. Because I have a two year old, I find myself rubbing shoulders with other mothers of two year olds, but they are usually more than ten years my junior. I am so haggard and aged.
I asked S., "How long have you been married?" And she said, "Ten years." D. has been married seven years, and A., a mere one year. I've been married seventeen years. That's a long time.
After dinner, I ran a few errands and ended up shivering at the local outdoor produce store, searching for a pumpkin to carve. From the road, it looked like there were a bunch of pumpkins, but upon closer inspection, they were all rotten and cracked and mushy. I had neglected pumpkin hunting earlier, so I settled on two medium white pumpkins and one oblong orange pumpkin. The pickings were mighty slim, which is what happens if you wait until October 30th to find a pumpkin. Lesson learned.
We may or may not go to church tomorrow. Babygirl is recovering from a sudden and vicious cold. I think she'll be all right, but you never know. But this is my favorite night of the year, better than Christmas Eve! It's the night we get an extra hour of sleep . . . or in my case, an extra hour to read! (Now, please, someone send the memo to my children. They usually fail to observe the "extra hour of sleep" rule and just get up at the regular time (which is now an hour earlier!).
--------------------------------------
**My favorite movie? "Schindler's List," which is profound on so many levels. I love the story of redemption it tells.
posted by Melodee at Saturday, October 30, 2004
2 Comments:
My husband has a friend who is a medical doctor. His wife has a PHD in education. I, on the other hand, am a blathering idiot. Anyway, at a dinner with these lovely people (she also plays the harp) my husband and his friend's wife were doing one of those back and forths of who knew the most well-known personalities. I hate that. Somehow, I lost my mind and interjected, Well, I know GOD! The conversation died right there, and I think my husband wished I'd died right along with it! Anyway, we don't go out much anymore, and when we do, I try to keep my annoyance to myself.
My favorite movie is "Shadowlands". I'm sure I'd love "Schindler's List", but so far, I have only listened to it, I just can't watch.
I end up with moms younger than myself on a regular basis...there are definitely ups and downs involved with that.
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