Separation Anxiety for adults

Hands up if you recognise this scenario.

Mum and dad settle in the babysitter, booked weeks (months!) in advance,

rush out to the taxi as fast as they can without seeming like uncaring parents,

get seated at the restaurant with the first bottle of wine

and sigh in bliss.

An evening without children.

(thedailygreen.com)

First rule of such evenings: There wont be talk about said children. At all. For the whole evening. Nada.

This works swimmingly for a while.

At least 5 minutes.

Until an apparently innocent conversation

about the amazing paintwork of the Sistene Chapel

turns somehow to the topic of toilet training their youngest.

And a funny chat about using the brand new digital camera

inexpicably ends up being a conversation about their child who who refuses to eat anything

that is green...or red...or...any colour really.

Ring any bells?

Hubby and I reminisce about pre-children times

and wonder at what we did with all that spare time and money.

Heck, to be totally honest,

we entertain thoughts about what we would be doing now without kids.

(Don't frown at me. It is only occasionally.

Like tonight where I have projectile vomits coming from all directions of kids' bed)

Divorce rates are increasing in couples over 50.

There are a number of reasons for this

but one seems to be due to suddenly being distant empty nesters

when the kids move out.

(weddingringsreview.net)

My husband and I celebrate 16 years of married life together next year.

21 years of a shared life.

I am somewhat self-satisfied, comfortable and happy

that we seem to be in a good place.

But the "we" is definately taking a back seat at the moment.

First up is the offspring's demands on our time

Anything left over is about sleep and "me" time.

In hubby's case, that means getting up at 5am

and cycling up hills...(yes, apparently for fun)

For me, that means sitting up till late watching movies

or crafting or drinking chai

or better still, all three.

He would get as much excitement and enjoyment from learning how to do a rolled hem

or crochet a multicoloured granny square in front of "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

as I would from pulling on lycra from head to toe

and then trying to stay upright on a bike while reaching the top of a hill.

Big. Fat. Zero.

(blogcritics.org)

(Though I harbour a sneaking suspicion that HE may be entertained by ME

squeezed into a lycra outfit trying to get up a hill on a bike )

Even with the kids,

while family time does happen frequently,

other times we tend to divide and conquer where possible for ease and economy.

So where does that leave us?

Headed for the divorce courts when we should be headed to the travel agent

to book our retirement overseas cruise-of-a-lifetime?

Should the list of modern wedding anniversary gifts read...

1st- clocks

2nd- china

....

....

25th- relationship counselling

?

(superstock.com)

Hubby has single handedly brought back date night.

Each Friday we put the kids to bed

then eat "adult" food,
(you know, with flavour)

watch "adult" telly

(and I don't mean rated R- I just mean not rated G and with a soundtrack along the lines of

"Toot toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car")

and then some "adult" relaxation.

(Big sticking point here as my definition of that is a good book and a good night's sleep.

Let's just say that he uses a different dictionary)

I do hold out strong hopes that this will not be an issue for us.

If for no other reason that we are older parents

and we will probably be in aged care and physically incapable of walking out on each other

before we get the kids out of the house.