random night

Now that we are coming out of the fog of a pregnancy and having a new-baby. Once a week we have our babysitter Hannah come over about 5ish, and we somehow make it out the door. That time of night is tough, everyone is looking to be fed and Kit gets cranky and the kids are punchy. The plan was to get a babysitter for me to do something one night a week regardless of Tom’s work schedule. I thought and thought of a ton of things I could do, mostly classes I could take in various interests. But finally I decided on leaving it open and doing something different every week. Sometimes with Tom and sometimes on my own. I wanted to enjoy the city again. I almost forgot it was there.

The first week Tom and I went to a local spa called D’mai and got a couples massage. We had never done this before and this is not the kind of money we can spend weekly, but we went for it. It was a little strange to be massaged next do each other. Do we have a conversation as if we are alone? Do we all talk the four of us? As in most slightly awkward situations I made a few jokes. I kept telling Tom he was snoring loudly. I wondered about the new age music playing in the background. Was it tough on New Age artists the most? All their music is downloaded for free, and they don’t really tour and sell merch… is their main income from CD sales at a kiosk at Wall-mart? Poor bastards. The massages were great, just strong enough. The girl who massaged me had rough hands, but it felt really good. And it was really romantic actually (for Tom and I). Afterwards we went to a fish restaurant next door (Brooklyn Fish Camp), and stopped in at a friend’s new bar in the S. Slope called Safe Haven. It used to be a BBQ Joint. They still have food and now have some live music. Tom harassed the bartender in his usual style, and we argued about what was the best length for a song. Then we left before Marquis Moon by Television ended (which I think is about 9.5 minutes long). It was a tiny taste of our ol’ “hang out at the bar days”, they are a distant memory since the kids arrived. We had joked about just spending the whole babysitterd time at the bar. Tempting but would have been regretful at 6am.

The next week we went into the city and had some Indian food at a restaurant on 6th Street. We call Mahattan “the city” here in Brooklyn. 6th Street has a row of amazing Indian restaurants and nothing I have found in Brooklyn compares. It is rumored that they all share the same kitchen in the back courtyard. A little sittar and some curry always makes me feel all warm inside. We stopped in to a tattoo shop to say hello to a friend of mine and I got the tattoo itch all over again. It was something I haddn’t thought of much, I thought I may have matured out of it. But then I got an idea in my head and now it will roll around there, redrawing itself over and over until I get it right. The only relief is when it is finally etched into my skin.

The third week I was feeling under the weather… the beginning of a two week stomach flu from hell. We took it easy and saw the movie Earth at a nearby theater. It was Earth Day after all. The movie had amazing photography, a lot of time-lapsed seasons footage and a few slow motion death scenes. They banged home the global warming effects on the polar bear, the killer whale and the elephants. The film watched a year in a life of a family of each of these species. I would have a tough time not intervening, especially in the polar bears sense now that they are endangered and at near extinction. Being that their demise is from man, I would not be able to stop myself from trying to save them, feeling responsible for my species’ carelessness. Mellow date night, oh and I had the best pizza I had ever had in my life, ever. We eat at Toby’s Public House often, but it dawned on me then that it was really the best pizza ever. I like how Bam the bartender makes his own jerkey.. and has a tattoo of himself holding.. jerkey.

This week we canceled the sitter because I have a stomach flu from hell. It is almost gone but has dragged me through it and I am feeling exhausted. I missed Tom’s cousin’s wedding at the Jersey shore. Had my nails done and dress altered and everything. Boo-hoo, wah-wah. But all is not lost. Summer arrived like someone flicked a switch and we are wearing our flip-flops and drinking beverages with lemon. I am excited about our new freedom once a week and we have a list of things we want to do in the next coming weeks. It feels good to be able to enjoy the city again and all the craziness of it. We took the kids to Manhattan and just walked around the other day. We had so much fun. Jack loved the subway. Marlowe conquered two new play-groounds. Kit was just a model baby as usual. There is so much energy to draw from, and so much good people watching. Its so easy to get stuck in our little habitrail of life. Just getting tasks done all the time, (get diapers, fill up the car, food shopping, laundry, clean the kitchen, drive to day-care, make dinner…) it feels like we could be living in the suburbs sometime (with half the space and twice the expense!), its so nice to feel like a whole summer is ahead of us and the ability to enjoy  it and have countless things to choose from. My time away from my kids is so minimal, I can appreciate it so much more. When I go to the cafe, I see people sitting there just spending time as if they do it all the time. It is so alien and far from my reality now. It is interesting to me to see what Tom and I come up with to do… if we only have 5 hours of free time this week (and that is not an exaggeration) than what will you choose to do with that time? Treat yourself to good food or culture? Take a walk and not feel rushed? Shop? Sit and read? Visit a friend or be alone? I really don’t know what to do with my free time any more than I did when I had tons of it honestly. Maybe ill use random.org to help me choose from my list. You have to register to use their random draw service, but the coin fliper is free and you can choose to flip all different kinds of coins. Susan B. Anthony’s, Yen, Australian Dollars, Swiss Francs. Maybe I will do all of my big decision making this way. Or, I could carry around a hat and slips of paper for random drawings.. or a coin.