As we "move in" to the "Parenthood" you learn new things by the bucket loads. You especially learn that life just isn't the same as pre-baby, and for the most part, it's really ok - sometimes, it's pretty AWESOME!
There are those things that change in your life that are not so great. The loss of some basic rights and privileges like: staying up partying all night, sleeping in, pooping without an audience, spontaneity. But, like I said earlier, these things usually are balanced out by the awesomeness of having a little one in your life.
In the past several weeks, my husband and I have been preparing to move to a new city. This is, at times, a stressful ordeal. There's much to do and often too little time and too many puppets to master. So, in an effort to maintain our sanity, we planned a date night. That date night was canceled on three separate occasions due to our babysitter canceling and so this week when our 3rd attempt had been thwarted, Stephen said that I should still go to the movie by myself. I DID NOT HESITATE! I had dinner ready when Stephen was home from work, Zac was already fed his dinner and after I ate my own dinner, I grabbed my purse and ran.
I had the pleasure of watching Harry Potter 7 and the movie was great! Unfortunately, it was only playing in 3D (perhaps sometime I'll tell you about how annoying I find the damn 3D glasses and the movies - especially those not shot in 3D like HP7.) As I was waiting for the doors to open to the viewing room, I was sitting enjoying some "fresh" popcorn and a cool beer (yes! they even serve beer at the movies here), a young Airman showed up with a baby carrier. Inside the carrier was what looked to be a two month old. My ticket was for the 8:30 p.m. showing so my brow wrinkled at the thought of even bringing such a young infant out of the house at that hour - let alone do so for a 2 hour movie!
We all know babies cry. We all know that no one likes it when babies cry. So why the hell did this man (and his wife, who joined them later after scoring her own popcorn and beer) even think that this was a good idea? Here I am, having date night BY MYSELF and now I have to share it with a pair of irresponsible Parenthood community members. GAH!
Well, it turns out there were at least two small infants invited to this evenings showing. And about mid-movie, just when the explosions were getting more intense and the screaming was getting more piercing, the babies began to cry. It's late, they're overstimulated and now I was watching the movie with the ears and eyes of an overprotective parent. The explosions and magical creatures were WAY too scary, the sound was WAY too loud and were definitely going to result in measurable infant hearing loss.
Please, please, PLEEEEEASE - I beg of you parents and parents-to-be; treat the rest of the community with the level of respect that you wish to be treated. I lost my babysitter and so I lost my date night - but I did NOT inflict a crying, over-tired toddler to my fellow movie goers.
Sacrifice is a part of being in the "'Hood" but it is all worth it, eventually.
