A Weekend for 15
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 21st, 2007
NOTE: All readers of “Off Planet,” please report to Part 5. All those who are not reading it yet, please start at the beginning.
My lovely wife on our 15th Anniversary “trip.”
(click any photo to enlarge and sharpen)
Rather than perform a time-consuming feat of photo resizing and clever textual depictions of the weekend’s events, I’ll just say this:
We had a great 15th Anniversary weekend. Rather than an exotic locale, we headed to a place within an hour of our house. The most important aspect of the trip was that it included my wife and me, but not our son.
It was our first weekend together, without Ben, since before his birth four years ago.
More than just dinners out, live shows, and museums, it was a chance to make sure that somewhere inside that veneer of parental armor, we were pretty much the same people we’d fallen in love with fewer than 16 years ago.
Sure, the years have taught us much, and we undoubtedly have ripened since our green ages of (barely) 19 and 21, respectively.
And, yes, we’ve had a night here and there without Ben. What difference could two nights in a row make, you say?
A lot.
Usually, a date night means that Shannon drops Ben by her mom’s late Friday afternoon, and then we have a fun evening. Next day, we awake and have a few hours before we go get Ben. It’s a great arrangement, to be sure.
Ben’s the most amazing thing we’ve done as a couple, and bringing him up has made us both better people. But a night, then a whole day and another night to do whatever we please?
Absolute bliss. If you have children and you have not tried this, then I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The rest of the photos and the stories, I’ll eke out over time. Just bear with me.
Glad you had a nice weekend. Good pic of you and Shan.
Excellent pic of Shan…. though I would have tried to airbrush out the fire extinguisher.. *chuckling*
Great pic of both of you too…. and yes, we all need time without the little one(s) to recharge.
Happy 15th Mark and Shan…!
Dad - Glad you stopped in! I can’t wait to see some of those wildlife pictures from your motion-detection camera. Might post a couple here, if you don’t mind.
Dave - Dang fire extinguisher! I was using it’s red to try to get the color right, but after converting to black and white, I never noticed it.
Mark, you’re getting kinda bossy what with you telling us what to read up there at the top of the post, ya know? But I AM going to go read part 5 as soon as I’m finished commenting here…
Those are nice shots, like Dad said. There’s also a part of me that simply can’t believe this was your first weekend in over four years. YEARS! Indeed, I cannot recommend something like that highly enough either. Kids, wonderful as they are, demand more of your time now than they ever will, and so you must make the conscious (and sometimes very difficult) choice to spend time alone without them. Because you NEED that time together as a husband and a wife without the constant threat of childish demands pulling you away from each other.
It’s sort of like a fresh shower, when you didn’t even realise until after how dirty you were. Not that I’m calling you OR Shannon dirty (in whatever sense of the word you want to use), I’m just sayin’, is all…
Sounds like a fun weekend to me! We had that opportunity awhile back, but it was more by circumstance, so we didn’t get to make any significant plans. A Friday night and 1/2 day Saturday turned into later Saturday…then the request to have him Saturday night too. But…like you said, It was TOTALLY different being together for a full two days rather than just the occasional evening “date night.”
I’m glad you guys had fun, and the pictures look great!
This is one lesson we’re trying to take to heart as new parents. We’ve had date nights and B&B trips and even one two night stay away from little Norah. It really is vital. Now that you’ve had a taste…I expect to see more such weekends on this site.
It seems apparent to me that the fire extinguisher is there as symbolism. It clearly states “Shannon is hot! So hot, in fact, that one may need to take preventative measures.” Well done, Mark.
You and Shannon are very lucky to have gotten that opportunity. I’m jealous! R and I have only gone on 3 “dates” since N was born! I don’t think we would know what to do with ourselves if we got a whole weekend to ourselves! (Well, I’m sure we could figure it out!) I’m glad y’all had a good time!
Simon - And you’ll do it when I say, or else!
I had begun to envy your weekend getaways, and now I see why.
And, yes, we might have been a little dirty.
Charles - Get that scheduled, man! And no golf!
Moksha - Indeed, the weekend was worth more than what we paid (well, except for Texas de Brazil, which was ridiculously priced for appetites like ours).
And, yes, it’s a good thing the extinguisher was there. ‘Cuz Shannon’s smokin’! (Although, she said she doesn’t like that picture of herself.)
Lan - Hey, girlie girl! You two gotta work that out! It’s a whole new world.
Happy Anniversary! Great picture of Shannon, and I like the one with you in it too. I had to laugh at Moksha’s comment.
It is nice to get out. With two teenagers it gets even more important to have sanity checks with each other once in a while.
Take care.
Mike
Sounds like a great time for the two of you. I remember back when the kids were little, what a treat that was. And the kids seemed taller and older when we got back, even if it was only 48 hours.
I crave the time now with the grandkids the same as I craved “away time” back then. Things go in circles…
Terrific pictures :-)
Happy Anniversary Mark and Shannon! Love the black and white of Shannon.