When was the last time you went away with your man? Without it being a kids’  tournament or business trip? Without the kids? Without the dog? I know – it had been a while for us too. We always go on trips with our kids. But we recently left the kids with my mother-in-law and escaped to Newport, RI for 36 hours to celebrate our anniversary. We adore our two children and enjoy traveling with them, but we so needed this mini-get-away. (I think we left skid marks in the driveway.) We stayed at a beautiful hotel close to downtown Newport with drapes so nice, I wanted to snap pictures of them and post them on Facebook. (But I held back for my husband’s sake.) We walked to pubs and nice restaurants. We ate lobster. We drank champagne. We shopped for ourselves. We left our laptops at home. We turned off our phones. We left the laundry and dishes at home. We had intelligent conversations. We laughed a lot. We even kissed in public.

Then we came home.

Two hours after we get home, I realize the anniversary honeymoon is oh so over. I had piles of laundry, dirty dishes, and a disappointed dog waiting for me. I also had a headache from having so much fun. Just as I’m about to declare it a PJ day and attempt to sneak in a nap, my son announces that he needs parental assistance with an important junior high school project that’s due in a couple of days. My daughter has run out of clothes and I’m stressed about everything I have to do before the holidays. As I’m working with my son, I start daydreaming about how the most challenging decisions we had to make during our short parental sanity trip involved whether we would choose lobster or steak. Beer or champagne. Umbrella or no umbrella.

It was so easy, it was almost ridiculous.

I wonder if this is what life’s going to be like in 30 years? (Minus double chins, grand- muffin tops, corns and arm flab, of course.)