I recently scored some last minute tickets to the Texas Rangers baseball game courtesy of my Mom. She even offered to babysit while we went to the game. A date night?!
“I actually have four tickets,” She said, “Why don’t you take all four of them and invite some friends to go with you?”
Wait, a double date night?!
These tickets were for a weeknight and we didn’t have much time to find some friends to invite. This is where you find out how sad my social life really is.
I texted everyone in my ‘recently called’ list on my phone. One by one all of my friends declined the invitation. We could not find anyone to go with.
“So who are we going to the game with?” asked Rambo.
I don’t think he really cared who was coming with us. Unlike me, he actually knew a thing or two about baseball and was just excited to be going.
“We have no friends! No one can hang out with us even when we bribe them with free tickets. We suck.”
This is the part where I sank into a pity party. I could be a better friend. I’m a hermit and nine times out of ten I’m relieved when plans get canceled because I’m too exhausted to change out of my pajamas anyway. I give myself like a 30% in the mom department, about a 15% in the housework department and I have zero friends. I am failing in life.
“You know all of our friends have young kids just like us. They probably can’t find a sitter on a weeknight last minute,” said Rambo. This is why I married him. He pulls me out of my self-induced melodrama before I lose myself in it.
Yes. He was right. I furiously began scrolling through my contact list for friends without kids. I have friends without kids! I see them never and get around to texting them maybe once every two years but I do have them.
About an hour later I threw my phone to the other side of the couch.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Apparently people without kids have careers. And they also travel a lot”
So, we ended up going to the game by ourselves.
My Mom hooked us UP! We had seats right behind the dugout.
Captain, the mascot sat down right in front of us while he was resting between his hilarious dancing performances.
I have to confess about the food. I ate a hot dog, a giant soft pretzel and a gallon of soda. I felt a little guilty after eating all that because I imagined my doctor’s face when I tell her that I ate everything I’m allergic to within one inning. Then I figured I was already in too deep so I went out and found this bucket of potato chips smothered in fake cheese sauce, sour cream and salsa. I’m just not going to tell her.
And these two little seats sat empty throughout the game. They are symbolic of all the parents who can’t remember the last time they went out on a date, let alone out for a night with friends. I get it. Babysitters are hard to find, hard to afford and it’s hard to leave our babies at home and not miss them. I didn’t always live close to my parents and I know the feeling. Nearly all of my friends said they would love to come if they could. One day, if we plan several months in advance, we will all get together. Also, I want you guys to appreciate how difficult it was for me to take this picture without the guy next to me thinking I was trying to take a shot of his crotch.
So although we didn’t get to go on a double date, we did get to go out on a date. And it was great 🙂
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