Gaining a New Outlook on an Old Perspective…
Sometimes forcing yourself to break a routine can provide a new outlook on old perspectives.
Recently, my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, and by that I mean that we wished one another a happy anniversary via a familiar nod as we emptied the dishwasher, made the lunches and got the kids off to school. We typically don’t celebrate our anniversary in big ways, it’s just too difficult to break our routine and we simply can’t rationalize spending money on something that doesn’t benefit the entire family. Whenever we do actually go out it’s to celebrate an entire year’s worth of occasions; birthdays, anniversary, Christmas, Ground Hog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Arbor Day, and whatever else we can throw into the mix during the annual one night on the town. However, this year, my younger sister Khara offered to ‘watch’ the kids so that we could go out for dinner. Olivia is nearly 16 years old and doesn’t really need anyone to look after her, however we do need some support with our son. Since Evan is a creature of habit and doesn’t like any change to his routine, we usually don’t go out dinner. Rather, my mom and stepfather will stay at our house while we run out for lunch someplace quick and cheap.
When my sister initially made her offer, I felt compelled to accept it, who wouldn’t want a dinner out without the worry and angst of finding a sitter? However, after a Saturday full of errands, cleaning, decorating and laundry, I was completely exhausted and regretted ever agreeing to a change in our traditional Saturday night regiment. I almost canceled as I began to run through all of the possible scenarios, all of the ‘what-ifs,’ that could possibly occur. We were in a good place, a really good place, there hadn’t been any vocal tics in a while, Evan wasn’t anxious and actually seemed to be open to the prospect of change. There was a part of me that wanted to surrender to the pull of my pajamas, the remote and an evening full of Netflix. However, as tired as I was, I noticed how excited Evan was to spend time at my sister’s house playing games and visiting with her. Unlike me, he was ready for the challenge, poised to embrace a new experience and adventure. So, I did what any pressed-for-time-mom would do, I spritzed my armpits, slapped on some make-up, threw on a black sweater, grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out the door ready to embrace the change and newness that lay before us all.
We all had a great evening, although mine included way too much tiramisu and red wine.
