Simple Life Birthday

It’s my birthday.  I put in high heels and go to a spa, all by myself.  The Husband takes the baby and pup with him.  For this part of the day I am only responsible for myself, and a 1/2 pint of pistachio gelato that I’ll enjoy while sitting in traffic.  It’s a simple life birthday, but the best ones always are.

I arrive at the spa early so there is ample time to breath in this unfamiliar silence.  With the scent of lavender in the air, I’ll sip cucumber spiked water and pretend that this is my world, something I do quite frequently.  

A backless dress, the same dress I wear all the time, but add heels to it and it looks different.  I drive with the window down to blow my hair into some sort of passable style.  Adding thick black eyeliner to this look, in between stop signs.

A friend watches Baby and Pup while we go to dinner for this first time in a very long time, alone.  Chimichurri sauce and two glasses of a wine I can’t pronounce.  We’ve been here before, but it was years ago.  A different lifestyle then.  Work, play, freedom in another light.  Weekend warrior style.  Free of dependent responsibilities, but chained to the endless flow of Monday’s.

The Husband surprises me with a movie, even though I tell him I’d rather just go look at a bit of water somewhere.  We never watch Tv.  When we do have access to one, we hardly ever sit through an entire show.  The world is just so full of so many other things to do.  But, for the sake of something different and to take advantage of this rare child-free evening, we go to the movies.  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

I love Pirates.  It’s the first movie we’ve been to in exactly 2 years.  I know, because going to a movie was on my pre-baby bucket list.  The seats are leather and recline, and the sound is amazing.  Only a few minutes in, and I feel like I’ve stepped into another world.  I also feel incredibly out of place, trying to remember if this was how movies were before.

Two hours pass and I find myself searching to check my phone, thinking of Baby.  I look over and The Husband is doing the same.  No one else has ever put her to sleep, and we start to worry that it’s getting late.  Gathering our things, we sneak out of our date, and head back to parent life.

I kick off my high heels, leaving them on the floor of the passenger seat, and step out of the truck barefoot.  They are nonsense for where I’m headed now.  To swoop up my tired little tot, and lay her sweetly down to slumber land.  I rinse my face of the makeup it wore, wondering why I put it on in the first place.  But I know why.  To, if only for a little while, remember that there was life before I was mom.  And while it’s fun to dip back into that thought, I can’t say I really miss it.

After she’s softly snoring, my face is clean and plain, I’ll change into a boring tank and some boy shorts.  Falling to sleep at an all too reasonable hour.  Not sad about it at all.  For this is the good life, the happiness I sought my whole life.  

The best simple life birthday I’ve ever had.