In the Company of (My) Men

Last night for the first time ever, I chose to stay in. I say "I" and not "we" because if it was up to Hal, staying in would always be Plan A. It has been my role in our relationship and subsequent marriage to drag my husband out the door on evenings, at all costs, unless of course a babysitter isn't available in which case I drag myself out the door, kissing both boys on the forehead before hitting the town. To a party or an event or social gathering of some kind.

The last two years we've had small parties at casa de GGC for New Years. (Because if you can't go out, might as well bring the party to you, right?) This was our perfect solution for not missing out on the festivities. My perfect solution. We'd cook up some food and Hal would make White Russians. We'd drink up Champagne and sneak cigs on the porch while Archer slept soundly in his room in the back of the house.

But this year I had no desire... To get dolled up. To flirt. To be social. Or drunk. I didn't care about missing out on all the "fun." (even though New Years Eve in my experience is never as fun as promised.)

It was the first year I had no want whatsoever to ring in the new year with anyone but my boys. My dudes. My dawgs.


Hal and I let Archer stay up until 10:30, the three of us overlapping on our small couch watching two and a half years of home-videos of Archer... Archer pointing at himself and saying "wha is it?"

"That's you, dude. As a baby."

"Ooooh! Beebee!"

It was perfect. Arch was in bed by 10:30, allowing Hal and I a wild and c-c-c-razy game of Scrabble (I kicked his ass) before cuddling up on the couch to watch the ball drop with a bottle of my favorite Pinot Grigio, clad in our socks and sweatshirts. No glam. No glitz. Just us, spooning. And who'd a thunk it, it was a thousand times more memorable than any blurry night on the town.

Maybe I'm getting old OR finally adapting to this new life, which would be about time-- it's been three years. Not that I ever want to fully give up the nights-on-the-town thang but I'm starting to realize that I've got something really great. Right here. Fun doesn't need to be sought out to be had. A party of three can be just as or even more of a rockin' good time.

So in retrospect, as I type this on this first day of the New Year I christen the year of 2008, the be-happy-for-what-I-have year. The year I pull my face from the window and chill the eff out with my crazy workaholicism and anxious obsession with having a social life, and enjoy my family because I've got a pretty good one, I must say.


And may I also add that one of most obvious plusses of staying in on New Years Eve: Come midnight, instead of kissing when the clock strikes midnight....

(cue hot-tub jazz: bow-chicka-chicka-wow-wow...)

Happy New Year, party people.

GGC