Thanks Photoguy, For a Night Out of the Comfort Zone

Photoguy took me to a reunion dinner to hang out with members of his "Dude, Where's My Van?" team (from the Wasatch Back Relay) Friday night. I was feeling less than enthusiastic about driving all the way to Park City to be with people who are strangers to me. When I was single, I loved meeting new people. Now, I barely have time to hang out with the people near and dear to me. Please, no new people who I will most likely never, ever see again (said only slightly tongue in cheek).

To make me feel better, we arranged to drop the kids off a few hours early and hit the outlet malls before dinner. That was suh-WEET! I found bargains for everyone in the family. I even bought two shirts that I love. It's hard to find shirts that are tight enough to say, "I do have somewhat of a figure here," but not so tight as to say, "Ask me when my baby is due," so I was pretty stoked about finding two in one shopping excursion.

As soon as we showed up at the home hosting the BBQ, I realized my reservations had been unfounded. We pulled up to a gorgeous two-story house with a wrap around veranda. We walked in to an even more gorgeous front room, down a hallway lined with art, past a gigantic glass-doored closet filled with wine, and into a kitchen donning delicious eats arranged on impressive platters. I could see it was going to be a first-class night. Turns out the young couple living there are both attorneys. (I've now begun prepping Photoguy for the LSAT to help him find his new career path.)

The guests arrived, and while they were nice people, I didn't really have anything to say to them as they reminisced about their 30-hours sweating together in a van, and, their adventures with port-a-potties at marathons.

One gal brought her daughter, Daphne. "And, how old are you Daphne?" I asked. I got the eye roll and the "whatever" look. "Are you blowing me off?" Slight nod, followed by a smirk. Then, she turned to her mom and said, "Can we go yet?" They had just arrived.

Usually, when I get a night out without my kids, I'm not jumping at the chance to entertain kids, kapish? Yet, for some reason I found myself saying, "Hey Daphne, let's get outta here. These guys are talking about boring grown-up stuff."

We went out to the back porch and had the most delightful evening. She is nine-years-old. Her favorite animals are sharks. She knows all kinds of facts about sharks. She may have been making them up, but it sure sounded real. She wants to go to college in Australia and study to be a marine biologist. Her best friend is going to live with her and keep alligators. She told me about traveling to Mexico where she jumped off a cliff into a waterfall. And, London, where she saw two Broadway musicals and Stone Henge, but they didn't ride the giant ferris wheel because "That would have been a waste of time, we would have rather seen things that have been around for hundreds of years." She was cracking me up! She told me about mountain biking, running with a track team, and how her school makes her wear a uniform with "pants that come up past the belly button!" The nerve!

It was such a great conversation. I couldn't believe she was only nine. It got me thinking about what my kids would talk about in the same situation. Hmmm . . . probably evil Pokemon - gah! We'd better start working on that.