Valentine's Date?

We needed new tires on the Civic and Jamie 'knows a guy' so on Saturday morning we all headed down to the place in two vehicles. Jamie went inside to get everything squared away while Zach and I loaded our stuff and the kids into Jamie's van.

We needed to go to the store to pick up some supplies for later on because we were going to dinner at Jen and Dan's. So my mom and Jamie drove us to the grocery store while we waited for the Civic. Upon arriving they decided they didn't really need anything so they were just going to wait in the parking lot and read the newspaper. It was a nice sunny day so someone suggested the kids stay in the care too. I agreed.

That means Zach and I went into the grocery store alone.

I gave that line it's own paragraph because of it's importance. We were walking around picking stuff out with such ease that it took me at least five minutes to realize what was missing: The noise, the whining, the pleading (my own - to get Jacob to shut up), the high stress levels, the ringing in my ears. If you have kids, you know the feeling.

When I realized how nice the experience was and how at peace I felt, I said it aloud to Zach. "Yeah, it's the first time we've been alone...." Neither one of us could remember how long. It doesn't count if the kids are asleep at home, and also, that never really happens anyway. I know that it hasn't happened since Sabine was born. I'm sure it happened at some point while I was pregnant, but again, that doesn't count because I was a cow and miserable.

And then we realized it was Valentine's day! So then we got laughing about how we were actually having a Valentine's date. Not that we even did that kind of thing before kids. And even though it was the grocery store, believe me, it counts.