First night out

Since moving to Florida, we lost all of our reliable sitters. We were very blessed in Virginia to have friends and neighbors who were always willing to lend us a hand when it came to watching our boys. We have been terribly lost since moving in that respect.

Tonight, however, we achieved a milestone. Chris and I were out of the apartment. together. without children. Chris' boss had his entire team over to his home tonight for a Christmas party. But I digress, or would it be pro-gress if I haven't given the background as to how I was able to leave the house at the same time as my husband?

When Chris and I joined our gym back in October, we were each given 3 sessions with a trainer to show us how the machines work, set us up for the right settings, etc. Joey was our trainer. I met with him first, and then scheduled Chris for an appointment to join in on the fun. Joey is a 21 year old (I hesitate to call him a man, but I guess that's what he technically is) kid who I hit it off with from the get go. He was pushing my limits physically, and I kept having to remind him that I have had 3 babies in as many years, and I'm working myself back into shape. He made me laugh with his ditzy blondness. In talking one day while I was walking on the treadmill, he told me about some bars that were really fun. I asked him if he was offering to babysit so that Chris and I could go out. He of course insisted that he wanted to go with us, not babysit! So I told him that there's no way we could go out without a babysitter. That's when he told me about his 17 year old sister Noelle. Long story slightly shorter, I finally got Noelle's number and arranged for her to come over earlier in the week to meet my crew of boys. She didn't seem to frightened at the end of the hour, so we agreed she would return tonight at 4:30.

4:24 arrives, and there is a knock on the door. There stands Noelle, apologizing for being a little early - um, let me think about that...promptness, yeah, we don't like that trait at all! She comes in, I give her the basic run-down - dinner options, where the pajamas are, Brian & Sean's toothbrushes, how to work the remote - and I get ready to leave. All the boys seemed rather content with her being there and me walking out the door, so out the door I went. I immediately got on the wireless phone in my car (being safe of course!) and called my sister. I was so in awe of not having anyone in the back of the car that I just didn't know what to do with myself. Okay, let's pick back up on the reason for the evening out now.

I met Chris at his office and we drove over to his boss' house, Now for those people who know me, you might find this surprising, but I HATE going into new situations where I don't know anyone. My stomach gets all knotted up, I get a bit of a headache going, and feel like I want to throw up, or just not go into the event. Fortunately, Chris dragged me out of the car and up to the front door. He reminded me that he's only known these people for about 2 weeks - is that supposed to make me feel better, I'm not sure. George opened the door and I was swept inside. At that point there were only 3 or 4 other couples in the house. I couldn't remember all of the names George rambled out, but figured I would just cozy up in a corner and not have to worry too much about it. Chris whispered to me that we should just keep eating, that way we wouldn't have to talk to anyone. And it would have been possible to do just that with the amount of food there was. There were chicken wings, some rice salads, 3 different kinds of stuffed mushrooms, an antipasto platter, fruit platter, veggie platter, a couple of sandwich platters (and good ones at that!), and the piece de resistance of the dinner fare was a sushi boat. It was this 3.5 ft long wooden fish that held a variety of different sushi options. It was delish! Then there was the dessert table with a chocolate cake that people were lining up to lick the remnants off the plate it was that good.

I ended up meeting a number of people that Chris worked with, and at the end of the evening felt much more confident. I enjoyed myself, but more so the fact that I got to spend a couple of hours alone with Chris. We hardly ever get the opportunity to just enjoy each other's company. People knew who Chris was (the new guy, the young guy) and were happy to meet me. They knew that we had moved from the D.C. area, which tells me that already, Chris has made an impression on the people that he works with. I was so proud to stand there as his wife tonight, to support him and get a glimpse of the people he is with when he's not home with us.