Adulthood Revisited

Oh, cut me some slack. I'm on vacation. ;)

I'll admit that one of the nice things about visiting family is the occasional time here and there where Stacey and I get to feel like grown-ups again. Now, that's not to say that we aren't grown-ups (despite what some may say), but it can be difficult to be one when your world is mostly or all-consumed by all things child.

Something I picked up shortly after becoming a parent was this weird Stockholm Syndrome like effect, where you become so focused on the things your child is into, that you find it hard to have regular conversations that didn't involve intricate details about the current Wiggles lineup. Surprisingly, most of your single or non-child-rearing friends really don't care about interesting trivia like "hey, did you know that there are two different hosts of Blue's Clues?"

I know. I'm as shocked as you are. 

About the friends thing, I mean. I'm assuming you already know about Steve and Joe.

It does sneak up on you. You don't realize how far down the parental rabbit-hole you've gone until you start hanging out with friends and find that you have absolutely nothing of substance to talk about. 

Impromptu dates are certainly thrown out of the window. What had been a "want to go out and catch a movie?" type of thing, now would become an event that had to be put in your planner. Babysitters would need to be called. Money set aside. Schedules checked. Prayers to the parental Gods that all goes off without a hitch.

One tends to lose some spontaneity, is what I'm saying.

So what happens when we go home to visit family? A brief return to adulthood, in a way. Because our parents know where we're coming from. 

Because they've been there.

Conversations now become this best-of-both-worlds moment where we can switch from talking about current events, or what cool things are going on, to talking about what Brady made in her art class, and no one bats an eye. Feel like going out to the local pub tonight? We're practically shoved out the door if it means the grandparents get to spend some quality time with their granddaughter.

Because really, they love to see Stacey and me. But they love to see Brady. And who are we to get in the way of that?

As Brady has become older, parenthood has become easier (relatively speaking). We have a bit more balance between kid time and grown-up time. The impromptu trip out can even happen now (though it's more like for the three of us). Still, it nice when we go back to visit our families and our parents go and say, "why don't you two go out for a bit? We'll watch her. Take your time."

It certainly doesn't suck.