Footloose and Fancyfree

A few months ago, Patrick and I decided to take a skiing trip to Breckenridge, Colorado to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.  Yes, our anniversary is in December, but the cheap airfare was in January...so needless to say we went this past weekend.

This was to be my first time leaving our son overnight, and although I was sad about being apart from him, I eagerly pictured doing all those pre-baby activities that Patrick and I enjoyed so much.  Things like eating sushi at a quiet table for two.  Looking fashionable in my ski outfit without a trace of spit-up or snot anywhere on it.  Going up and down the hill as many times as we wanted.  Strolling hand-in-hand down the main street, stopping to shop for trendy items.  Conversing for several days on an adult level.  You know, all that fun stuff.

And we did get to do all of the aforementioned activities; but they didn't go as I pictured.  You see, I was picturing the type of vacation that pre-baby Kelsey and Patrick would had have; but that is not who we are anymore.  We are post-baby Kelsey and Patrick, and our world looks a little different.  Everything we experience is seen through parent-colored glasses.  With that in mind, the post-baby Kelsey and Patrick's vacation looked more like this:

We do sit at a quiet table for two and munch on sushi, but instead of being the snotty pre-baby couple who would have judged the mom across the room with the screaming child, we give her sympathetic looks and reassuring smiles.

I do get to wear my fashionable ski outfit, but in an effort to set a good future example for our son I insist that Patrick and I both wear helmets.  Patrick is less than happy, but in a truly "dad" move agrees that we can't ask him to do something that we ourselves are not willing to do, and shouldn't we be a tad more careful anyway, since he depends on us?  I tell myself the helmet looks good (you know, like mom-jeans.)

We do get to go up and down the hill as many times as we want, but I find myself wondering out-loud how old the little mister has to be before we can enroll him in ski school.  Patrick wants to know whether the ski training leashes are exclusively for skiing or whether we can use them at, say, the grocery store.

We do stroll down the main street and shop, but the only thing we buy is a custom order superhero cape that will be embroidered with our son's initial.  We are both exceptionally pleased with our purchase and spend the rest of the stroll coming up with potential superhero names for him.

We do converse on an adult level.  When we walk past the Breckenridge Cannabis Club, we giggle a little, and then talk about how someday we will have to explain things like that to our son.  We discuss what our next ski route is going to be, and then try to decide what he's doing right at that exact moment.  We sit in the hotel's hot tub, and somehow end up telling the other couple sitting there all about how amazing we think he is and how fast the last year as flown.

We are those people.  You know the type: those couples who can't stop talking / thinking / missing their kids.  Yep, that's us.  Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we didn't enjoy our trip.  No, no, post-baby Patrick and I had a phenomenal time and I am sure at some point we will leave our son with his grandparents again (if they're willing!) so we can catch up as a couple.  I mean, we would never know how much we miss him if we don't leave him once and a while, right?  But at the end of that future trip, if the plane wanted to go just a tad faster so I could get home to my little mister, that would be all right by me...