Hot Dates on Saturday nights

As a teen and a college student I loved Saturday night dates. I mean loved and looked forward to them. Weather it was with a boy or just my girlfriends, Saturday nights were filled with plans and meant for fun. I loved, and still do, the process of getting ready each week. Picking out the perfect outfit, throwing on some music and maticulously getting ready for the event. I still remember Darin's and my first "real date" on a Saturday night. It was our second date and he was driving in from Belton to take me out. I even bought a new shirt that day at I work, at Cavendar's. I still remember the tingles as the moments were getting closer for him to be there. With Shania Twain playing in the back ground I would catch myself frequently peeking out my bay window on looking our driveway, to look for his blue truck to appear. Then the spark of excitment when it was suddenly there. Sometimes I would catch him driving in. I would watch him slide his sunglasses off and check himself in the mirror one last time and catch a glimpse of what he was wearing or if he brought me a surprize. I also loved coming down stairs for dates to meet the waiting boy sitting on the couch and seeing his facial expressions directed at me. (One memory was, Christmas my Junior year, I pranced down the stairs in a beautiful black velvet dress to meet my waiting beau and missed a step, bouning on my rear on the last two steps.)


Darin and I have been married for almost 13 years and three kids later we have started dating again. Just the process of getting ready in my room alone brings back those tingles. (Maybe it is just the excitement of getting ready alone and the thought of dinner out with out children.) This last Saturday we were meeting Darin's parents for dinner and then grocery shopping. But I still wanted to "get ready for it." I just been given a bunch of clothes from my Mary Kay director and am still having fun creating new outfits from it. Not the fun dates of my youth but I wanted to make the best of it.


I put on a cute skirt with my favorite green shirt, only to discover that the stain on it had not come out. Switching to plan "B" which meant I had to change jewelry and fighting a two year old hands to stay out of my jewelry cabinet was just the start of my night. Then there was little girls hair to fix, finding sock and shoes for three pairs of feet and two fights to break up before we could get out the door. We tagged teamed buckling car seats and getting everyone situated. Then there was the argument of what was going to be listened to in the car on the radio. Followed by "Can we watch a movie?" and protests erupting when the answer was no. What fun!


Then we went to the most romantic of settings, Luby's. Trying to get the older two kids to make a decision about what they wanted while the less than friendly server barked choices at us. By the time it got to me I felt so rushed I picked the first thing in line and it was not on my diet. How we made it to the table with every items still on the trays was a small miricle. Lets just say an evening with three kids and a disgruntled mother in law made for an enchanting evening of dinner and stimulating conversations.



After dinner we set out on part two of the grand adventure it was off to venture into Wal-Mart. Three kids and two weeks worth of groceries to purchase was the task at hand. An hour and half later we had two carts full of groceries and three kids that had been pushed to their limits. The last leg of the project was to find a relatively short line at Wal-Mart and get the heck out of dodge. It was 8:00 and the prospect of getting the kids bathed and in bed to have some of the night left for Darin and I was a distinct possibility. Now finding a short line at Wal-Mart, on a Saturday is not always an easiest thing to accomplish. We thought we had found a stroke of luck when we found a line with one person ahead of us. So we unloaded the groceries onto the table and began the last test that parents must pass when at the check out counter....living through the "I Wants" and fits when the answer is "no". "But I've been soooo good. Can I please have a treat?" "Mom can I just have this?" Then there is the task of keeping the littlest one from standing up in the basket and dealing with the screeches that erupt when she realizes that she is buckled in. My only consolation was the fact that my loving husband was in the trenches right there with me. It was then that we realized we had picked the wrong line to get in. 15 minutes had passed and all of our groceries were unloaded and waiting to be checked and the checker was still on the lady in front of us. He was moving at a snails pace as the kids were rearranging the small toys on the bottom shelf. The littlest one had now joined them in this because her father was tired of the screams and swore he would keep a close eye on her. That is when Brighton suddenly grabbed herself and yelled, "I gotta go potty!" and started trotting crosslegged towards the bathroom. While trying to follow her I turned to Darin to tell him where I was going and I saw my 20 month old pull down her pull up and pants saying, "Potty." In a flash I jerked her pants up and swept her up in my arms all in one fluid movement. Then I had the daunting task of getting two little girls to go potty with out touching anything in the disgusting bathroom. After all was said and done it took us 40 minutes to get through the check out line. The checkers moved a speed that literally hurt my body to see how slowly he picked up, scanned and then bagging each item, one by one. It was almost 10 by the time we got home with the groceries, kids bathed and in bed. This was not the night I had envisioned for my Saturday night. My how my Saturday nights have changed.