A Toddler's Worst Insult

G and I have the worst luck when it comes to going on dates. First of all, when we were "dating," we never dated much. We were in college, very busy, poor, and had lots of mutual friends, so we did a lot of "hanging out" and "studying" together. And quite frankly, there's not much to do in Provo anyway besides the dollar theater and campus activities. And who wants to do either of those.

Nowadays the majority of our "dates" involve adoption meetings. I'm not sure which is more pathetic: our dating life then or now. Since Buddy has been born, 95% of the time we hire a babysitter or arrange for my parents to watch Buddy, something goes terribly wrong. It's almost become a joke in our marriage. My parents are busy and live 30 miles south. They are willing, but it's not always the most convenient to have them help. We don't hire a babysitter often because it gets expensive, plus we run into hassles every time we try to go out. Somebody either gets the stomach flu the day the babysitter is supposed to come, G has to suddenly work late, the babysitter doesn't show up, we can't find an available babysitter in the first place, or we get in a fight and suddenly don't want to hang out with each other.

Yesterday I hung out with my mom all day and when it came time to leave (because I had a very exciting adoption meeting to get home to...), she asked if Buddy could stay. She suggested I call after the meeting to see how Buddy was doing, but if he was fine, he should spend the night.

He didn't have any overnight supplies, his beloved Teddy was at home, he didn't have any medicine, no pullups for sleeping, nothing. Plus, besides the meeting, G and I didn't have anything we needed or were dieing to do that night. In my wildest imagination, I couldn't imagine how this plan would work, but between my mom's persuasiveness and G's pressure, I agreed.

When I called to check in, I asked Buddy if he wanted to spend the night or have me come get him. In true Buddy quickness he said, "I don't want you to come get me. I want you to go to the zoo and get eaten by the hippos."

Where on earth did that come from? I guess he was fine with this, but I still wasn't.

After a major anxiety attack, a fun dinner, and the boring meeting, we found ourselves with Slurpee's and taking a late-night drive up in the hills to an exclusive neighborhood overlooking Portland. That gave us the bright idea of going mountain biking in the morning. So we went home, G dusted off the gear and lubed everything up. It had been awhile for me, so I was anxious to see how my new-improved strong legs would handle the hills.

Wouldn't you know, when we got up this morning, it was pouring down rain. Seriously, we have the worst luck. Thinking wishfully, we drove the 45 minutes up to the mountain in case the canopy of trees somehow could shield us from the torrential rains. Yeah right.

So, while the cat's away overnight with grandma, once again, we manage to do nothing.

The good news is, Buddy did miss me and when we picked him up he said he was glad I didn't take his advice and head for the hippos.

We've got a full calendar this month: We have another adoption meeting/"date" planned for this week and a temple/wedding reception/"date" planned for a couple of weeks. Should we make dibs on what'll go awry next time?