Often Sometimes, it’s just easier for me to tune him out than to sift through all the words he is putting out there for me to hear.

But tonight, he asked me a question that sparked a good discussion:

If the Internet became pay-per-use, what five websites would you be willing to pay to view?

Now let us assume that you don’t have some type of Everything Plan…and that paying per website was somewhat spendy, so you must select your five carefully.

Which five would you choose?

So it seems fair to me that I should be allowed to exit at the moment The Husband enters the house.  I’m not being completely unreasonable, right?  I need the break and want desperately to leave my Mommy-hat behind…maybe until the next morning.  Or the next week.  Or the next month.  Whatever.

Okay, so my desire to quit being Mommy for a long while isn’t completely fair to The Husband.  He is an excellent Husband and Dad, and he understands that the Introvert in me is zapped by the constant people-time that is my day as a Mommy.  He tries to give me as much of a break as possible.  I hole myself up in the farthest point in the house away from the kids and attempt to let my mind reset.  I read.  I knit.  I catch up on the internet.  Anything, as long as it is done in solitude.

Soon, way too soon, however, I hear The Husband calling for me.  Or the kids come find me.  It’s Family Time.  Dinner.  More conversation.  I try not to snap at The Husband, who just wants to talk to me and the kids, catch up on our day.  I feel attacked from all sides as the four people I love most in the world will.not.shut.up.

The bedtime routine is the final straw.  Doing jammies, teeth, books, songs, prayers, tuck-ins–and heaven forbid it be a bath night!–absolutely does me in.  I collapse at the end of it, unable to form coherent sentences and my eyes glazed over.

The next day, it begins all over again.

Here’s what I don’t get:  most of the time, he will not get responses in Spanish.  Native speakers mostly look surprised and will speak English back to him.  The Husband might continue to speak in Spanish, but will only get responses in English.  I can’t figure this one out.  Why won’t they converse in Spanish with him?  Has he somehow offended them by speaking in Spanish?

Wish I knew.  I do know that when I lived overseas and would venture out into the city to shop, I was grateful when people attempted to speak English with me, even if it was extremely broken.

So.  Here’s what I’ve come up with:  dating.  Not out-of-the-home dates that requires a babysitter (we had one last night!), but the ones we keep sacred at home.

I am currently watching The Amazing Race, which is The Husband’s and my weekly stay-at-home date.  We started watching it together when we were in our first year of marriage and have kept it alive all this time, even when we were living overseas.  Why do we watch it?  Well, we are traveling vicariously through the competitors.  The Husband I long to travel the world someday!  And we like to think watching the contestants bicker shows us how not to handle stress.  Hopefully we choose to defuse our own conflicts in a healthy manner.  Also, it’s fun to watch the challenges and decide how we would do them if we were in the same situations.  And finally (and maybe most importantly), it’s The Husband’s and my dedicated date-time to one another each week, even if it is spent in front of the television.

We’ve tried adding in other stay-at-home TV dates, but this is only one that we keep religiously (maybe once Lost returns, we’ll make time for it).   Maybe I should quit blogging during it and pay attention to him!