Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Leaving Las Vegas

O.K. so the garden has been watered.  Now what?


Vegas with hubby was a blast.  We had this very same trip last year.  He was there on business and flew me in for the weekend to enjoy a nice hotel at the company rate.  Last year was Planet Hollywood.  This year was a new hotel called The Cosmopolitan.  The rooms are very swanky.  Ours is a 1 bedroom suite with a view to die for.  The hotel sits next door to the Bellagio and across the street from Paris.  So we have the dancing water fountains and the Eiffel Tower as our view.  To top it all off, there is a soaking tub built for two with the same view.  Need I say more.  I mean as far as I am concerned there is no need to leave the room other than to eat!

We take everything slow, nice dinners, a little dancing, a comedy show, a few slot machines.  Slow walks, cocktail sipping and people watching.  We laugh, we talk...long, slow,  perpetual in depth conversations.  We talk about changes that we need to make in our lifestyle in order to maintain our connection.  How we can't allow our circumstances and our children to completely take over our lives. We vow to spend one on one time together, at least 2 to 3 times per week.  We have to take time for one another, put down the laptop, stop working so much, and make time for us as a couple.  Otherwise, we become roommates who are co-exhisting for the purposes of raising these high-maintenance children.

I am look forward to returning home, liking and loving each other again,  spending time together, working on the same team, being a united front, instead of having our own resentments and battles in the background.  Being a couple, not just parents.

We leave Las Vegas, united, connected, resolved to make our marriage a priority.  I'm feeling like I got to spend time with my boyfriend again.   It is absolutely, awesome.

Cut to the following day, we return home...I am sick.  My head is full of congestion.  I have shortness of breath, chills, sore throat, coughing, watery eyes, the whole nine-yards. I need rest.  The kids are on Spring Break and want to be entertained, driven here there and everywhere.  They want company over at the house. Work for hubby has piled up from being at the conference the week before so he is working like crazy.  Basically, the reality of life slaps us in the face...big time.

We make it through the week on a wing and a prayer.  On the weekend, hubby is working on upgrading and fixing the boys computers.  He takes them out for some guy time, which I appreciate.  They even meet our eldest son, Slim Shady, and all have dinner together at Red's favorite restaurant.  Afterward they all go to the electronics store where Red ends up having a meltdown and then brings it home with him.  Thanks Dad for all you've done for me...I hope you didn't think I would actually show you any appreciation.

We have not had more than a few minutes time together since we've been home.  I think maybe we watched a little t.v. together one night.  That's it!  So much for the vows, the resolve, the promises to make changes.  I pray that we will get back to that, now that I am well, and the kids are back to school from Spring Break.

The good news is...we have been more loving, kind, and patient with one another and with the kids since we've been home.  We have been working on the same team.  And at least we know, that 18 years later, we've still got it.  That we are indeed two people who love and respect one another.  We do still enjoy each others company.  Minus the stress of raising special needs children, he is still the wonderful man that I married.  And he still has a pretty hot girlfriend! Ha ha!

I already miss my boyfriend and the feeling of freedom we had in Las Vegas.  What happened in Vegas didn't stay there.  We brought the love back home.