The Exhausted Dad: 40-plus-year-olds on the town
Follow the advice of Andrew W.K. — Make time to party hard.
As a 41-year-old with four kids, I don’t get much opportunity to hit the town for an entire evening. Sure, my oldest is 13 years old and a certified babysitter, but my younger kids prefer their parents’ attendance post-sunset.
Recently, the wife and I set a course for a rare overnight date. It had been a year, at least, since the last one, and as sensible parents understand, nobody should be incarcerated by their children for such an extended period.
We knew we needed to make the most of our time. Without hesitation, I can say we had the greatest night since … well, the last time we stayed away from the children for the night.
For one, the 7-year-old couldn’t crash into our bed at 3 a.m. because of a scary dream.
Second, the dog wasn’t around to bark at me at 5 a.m. to feed him his breakfast.
Third, my oldest son didn’t startle me awake at 6 a.m. with the blast of the Netflix “gong” on the living room television. For 12 years, the kid has woken up at 6 a.m. or earlier, and he’s never not been the loudest creature on Earth.
Just the absence of these three things made it a glorious, Top Five day-of-the-year contender.
Here’s some of the other important stuff we did:
• My wife and I saw a movie together. We still do this regularly (matinee shows), but usually we must hurry back home to make sure nothing is on fire.
• We picked up some food without regard for picky preferences. No, we didn’t eat at a restaurant (we can do that on matinee dates as well). We did something better. We picked up the food, brought it back to our hotel room and ate it in (expletive deleted) peace and quiet. You can’t get that experience at a restaurant! Other people’s kids might be there. I could hear the sound of my wife chewing food for the first time in 13 years.
• We watched a couple of television shows we never get to watch before 11 p.m. Not necessarily because the show is inappropriate for children. It just happened to be something WE wanted to watch instead of the kids. There are so few shows that all six of us in the house enjoy, and there are only so many episodes of “Catfish.”
• I went to sleep before midnight … because I didn’t feel like I had to “stay up” and take advantage of a quiet house. I resist sleep daily just to exist in a quiet space. It felt so nice to fall asleep without fighting it.
That’s pretty much it. A spectacular evening. I ate some continental breakfast in the morning (took it back to the room again, naturally) and even sat in the hotel hot tub in silence after all the families checked out and went about their travels.
At 41, I love my kids and all the time I get to have with them. It won’t be long before they’re adults and out of the house. It will be quiet, and I won’t want it to be quiet.
Right now, though, a single night of solace is more valuable than a luxurious trip around the world.
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Tyler Wilson is a freelance writer, full-time student, and parent to four kids, ages 7-13. He is tired. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
The Exhausted Dad
