BYOBS

I’m not quite sure what John and I did last year for Valentine’s day. Cameron was four months old and I had just started a new job so I’m figuring it involved sleep, breast pumps, and maybe some more sleep.

Not really a huge fan of Valentine’s day, but this year, John decided to try to make it special. Seeing as we spend the majority of our non work days in sweats covered with who knows what combination of smashed food, boogers, and possibly poo, it isn’t too hard to make a day special around here.

But John went above and beyond. He ordered my favorite flowers. He secretly arranged for our babysitter to come over and then for us to go out, SOLO, for a nice quiet, romantic, dinner, SOLO. Have I mentioned there was not going to be a child involved? SOLO.

And as we reflect back on last night, John and I actually both agree on the moment we knew the evening was doomed. And we should have just turned around, but were tempted by the idea of a SOLO dinner out together. With romance! And Candlelight! And Wine! Right. That would be the moment we both agreed we should have just called a spade a spade.

The moment it was all over was when the over zealous waiter ran up to our table and offered to open our bottle of wine. Umm…we didn’t have one. And as the look of panic overran his face, his sheer grit and determination of being the best darn waiter around took over and he blurted out  ”We’re BYOB!!:) Why don’t you guys just run out and grab a bottle ?!:)” Um, gosh Brandon. Not that his name was Brandon, but he was definitely a Brandon, with the full “Hey Brando!” He gets when he high-fives his four roommates. You see, Brandon, we live in TENNESSEE. In TENNESSEE, you CAN’T BUY WINE ON A SUNDAY. Beer? Sure!  And I kid you not when he told us to go grab a six pack. FOR OUR SOLO ROMANTIC VALENTINE’S DINNER.

And from there, the evening really took a downturn. From Brando’s decision to TURN UP THE LIGHTS because he felt it was too dim!:) to the fairly edible bread sticks, it was an evening not meant to be. It was an evening that hit it’s pinnacle as Brando brought out my meal, which looked like a giant lean cuisine. Sadly, the lean cuisine easily won. Without a fight. We skipped dessert for fear of how much worse the cooking could get.

As we left we ran into a couple with a young child who didn’t have reservations and were turned away. John kindly tried to convey they shouldn’t feel too bad. They had dodged a major bullet.

At this point we’ve been gone for an hour and a half, we had the babysitter for two more hours so we tried to think of what to do. But it was Sunday. In TN. And it was raining. And foggy. And cold. And as we neared our house and I saw Cameron’s light on I told John all I really wanted for Valentine’s was to go home and see my son.

And after a less than memorable night SOLO, it turned out that the very best Valentine’s I could have had was a night home, in sweats, with my two most favorite boys.