Party Animal

Tonight is date night.  Actually, it’s more than just date night because after dinner, Mike and I are meeting up with about three different groups of friends for a night of total debauchery that seems so twenty-something.  In a good way.  And I’m really excited about it because it’s been so long since I’ve been out with a bunch of friends.

But, see, I’m tired.  I woke up at 7:30 this morning with Scarlett and it’s been a pretty hard week because she’s been under the weather/possibly teething.  So I’ll admit that there’s a part of me that wishes Mike and I could just stay at home and watch an on-demand romantic comedy and got to bed at, oh, say, ten o’clock.

I remember when I was in college, discussing with a friend how our parents were so, like, old and how, like, absolutely crazy it was that all they would do on a Friday or Saturday night was watch a movie or read a book.  We marveled at it as if we were anthropologists who suddenly discovered a new species that was part human but definitely part something else.  And if we had time, we could sit in the bushes with our binoculars and our notepads and watch them in their native habitat, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of them yawning or feeding itself.  If we had time, that is, because we already had three sets of plans that night, four if you counted the kegger down the street advertised on a flyer in the cafeteria.

So now it seems that I am part of that species.  I have mated and produced offspring and now I care for my young.  All week long.  Of course, if I was honest, I’d have to admit that my admission into this species has been gradual and probably started sometime after law school.  But I also think that it hasn’t yet taken me completely, so that on nights like tonight I can still pretend to be human and no one will ever know that I can peel off my skin and underneath is evidence of my entry into … adulthood.  Real adulthood.

So, for tonight, I’m going to embrace the fact that I am still part human and go out, drink a Red Bull, and be a true party animal.

And pray that Mike wakes up with Scarlett tomorrow morning so I can sleep in.