Yev and I are total homebodies. We work really hard, but instead of playing hard, we lounge hard. An ideal night for us is hanging out on the couch, watching a movie we both enjoy, drinking tea, maybe munching on some Trader Joe’s cookies. Piece of cake you think? WRONG.
Yev and I both love movies, but we can never agree on what movie to watch. These nights usually start with, “Oh hey, we got the kids down early. Let’s try and watch a movie before it gets too late.”
“Sounds great.”
“So what do you want to watch?”
“I don’t know. What do you want to watch?”
“Something funny. Not too heavy.”
“What about this?”
“Hmm. Not really in the mood. What about this?”
“Oh I’ve already seen that.”
“Ok fine. what about this?”
Over and over and over, until it’s 9pm, and we’ve missed our window. We end up going to bed agitated with each other and frustrated over a missed opportunity for a little date-night-in.
Well last night it happened! I put on I Am Number Four for the girls, with no idea what it was about. I needed to put on something new for them, as they were particularly crabby after their nap, and I just could not handle watching Moana one more time! Since the movie was definitely meant for an older audience, we didn’t get very far before the girls became disinterested, and I realized there was a lot more action in this movie than I wanted their nervous system to experience.
Yev popped his head into the living room. “Can we finish this movie tonight?”
I perked up on the couch, “For reals?”
“Ya. It’s actually pretty good.”
“I was thinking the same thing!”
“Awesome.”
The twins went down relatively easily, which meant we were on for movie night! We skipped cleaning the kitchen and went straight for the essentials: tea and cookies. Yev had those amazing chocolate dipped Dunkers from Trader Joe’s, and I was munching on some gluten-free animal crackers. Not fantastic, but it prevented me from looking at Yev’s cookies with a sense of longing and even betrayal (ya I’m still working on accepting this whole gluten-free lifestyle).
We settle into our spots on the couch, which are surprisingly as far away from each other as possible. We each have one of the ideal, reclining spots, and when you have to pick comfort over contact, we pick comfort 99% of the time. There are plenty of opportunities for cuddling later. This is not a means to an end. The movie is the end, so get out of my way.
But I digress. We settle into our spots and restart the movie, while my arms snuggle baby V to sleep. A few arm jiggles here and there, while popping the pacifier back in, and she’s out. Victory! We put her down, and now we can really enjoy our movie.
All kids are out. We have tea, nom-noms, fuzzy socks (for me), blankets, and lumbar support pillows. We pause the movie intermittently to chit chat, laugh, or simply revel in our blissful moment of freedom. Yep! This is 30. We’re ecstatic about tea and socks and back pillows. We’re thankful to be in the same room without having to shout over toddlers and a three month old.
The movie ends at 10pm on the dot, and we moan about how tired we are and groan as we get off the couch. We shuffle off to bed, where Yev plops down onto our mattress and begins softly snoring. I brush my teeth, put on pjs, and open my laptop to capture our wonderful moment for you 😘.
Jacqueline Pinchuk 