See that?
That is the HAPPIEST BABY IN THE WORLD.
I mean, our daughter’s always a bit of a grinner, but last night both she and Indy had what might have been the time of their lives. We met our friends and their friends (who are now our friends) – all of whom have multiple kids, so we had a pack of about eight of them – for live music at a place called Jack Rose (technically a bar, but the most family-friendly one ever), and it was the BEST. For all involved.
Indy hid behind an oversize flowerpot with a little girl he was busy having his first major crush on and Goldie showed off a serious Dancing On My Own independent streak, heading out to the empty dance floor all on her lonesome and very literally getting the party started. My girlfriend Elise and I wandered off into the “21+” part of the bar to check out the cocktail menu and spent a few minutes cracking up over our glasses of wine and sort of getting hit on. (I say “sort of” because the one older gentleman who approached us said to me, “I have to tell you, I love your shoes. I mean, you’re not my type. But I love your shoes.” So I guess that’s actually…not getting hit on. Like, even a little bit. Ah well.) And then we went back and ate more pizza and drank more beer and did some more dancing.
And then, when 8:30 rolled around and we *should* have headed home because our kids were already up past their bedtimes and we still had a half-hour drive in front of us, we decided oh, whatever: on nights like this that you need to break a few rules. We ended up all staying out for a couple more hours, and it felt…like, THIS is what I want my family life to be. This is the kind of memory I want my kids to have of their childhoods – and the kind of memory I want to have of parenting: all of us dusty and happy and dancing barefoot in the sand until way too late.
You know, so many social activities when you’re a parent can feel like they’re designated “for adults” (meaning post-sundown activities you get a babysitter for) or “for kids” (bouncy castle birthday parties and such). And those are fine, of course they are, but still: finding those places you can all enjoy hanging at and those people you all love being with, grownups and kids all dancing and eating and singing and laughing together – that’s my kind of party.
