Wednesday, September 16, 2015

disasters in marriage

We've been married for 10 years.




And we have four kids.
And we have not had a successful couple only getaway in all that time.
Notice I say successful?
We have gone away for the weekend three times in ten years.
Each time worse than the time before.

Attempt #1: A few months before our fifth anniversary. I scored a room at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake for super cheap, so we decided to celebrate early. We had limited means and so we decided to skip dinner at a nice restauraunt. Instead we went to McDonalds, the worst of the worst. After "dinner", we went back to the hotel and enjoyed our room. It was kitschy. It was fun. It was different. The bed seemed relatively comfortable.
About an hour after we fell asleep, something woke us up. The people in the room next door were also enjoying their bed... loudly. Yeah, that's understandable at a place like the Anniversary Inn. But it went on.... and on.... and on.... and on. So. Loud. We actually ended up leaving at three in the morning. 

Attempt #2: Jason's sweet parents felt so bad for us about our first getaway that they gave us a night at a hotel later that year. Being procrastinators, we didn't get around to using it until right before it expired, at which point we had a six month old baby in a body cast. I was a zombie during Juno's time in her body cast because she woke up every hour on the hour of every night of the entire six weeks she was in her cast. Our night at the hotel was no different, so I spent much of the night struggling to nurse a pink block of cement while also trying to keep her from crying constantly and disturbing the other hotel guests. Not terrible, but really the furthest thing from a relaxing night without kids.

Attempt #3: Earlier this year we celebrated our 10th anniversary. Plans were made. A restaurant was chosen (an expensive restaurant). I was again a zombie because I again had a baby that was a terrible sleeper (this time it was 11 month old Pearl, who still woke up 2-3 times a night). I wanted nothing more than a solid night's sleep with a leisurely morning spent lounging in bed, watching tv, and eating a delicious breakfast delivered right to our door. What could go wrong?
Dinner tasted good. The restaurant was fun. The hotel was nice. 
But later, after we fell asleep, one of us got sick and was up for several hours... and the other couldn't fall back asleep until after four in the morning. Then breakfast was delivered at 8:30. So I ended up with even less sleep on my kid-free getaway than I did at home.

After our 10th annniversary disaster, we promised ourselves a do-over. Nothing fancy this time--low pressure--just the two of us, relaxing and spending time together. Dare we make a fourth attempt??

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