Cheesecake Factory and Fishing

When you can’t go to cheesecake factory, you go fishing instead.

Let me tell you a little story. I had visions all day of dressing up in one of my new form fitting dresses. I wanted to wear it one more time while my big belly is all the figure it needs, because in a month I can promise you I will not be wearing anything that is remotely figure embracing. I thought of curling my hair and leaving it out of a messy bun for longer than 5 minutes. I thought of my husband dressed in nice clothes with his cowboy boots.

And then the food. There would be piles of pasta and chicken and vegetables in a creamy, spicy sauce. The best was going to be that amazing, mouthwatering chocolate mousse cheesecake for dessert. A whole evening of just Nic and I, to relax and enjoy and eat delicious food that I didn’t have to cook – or clean up after. Yes, it was going to be a perfect date evening.

However, Plan A fell through. I was mad. Disappointed. Irritated. Sad. And then I accepted that it wasn’t going to work out tonight no matter how much I was looking forward to it. That’s life with kids – sometimes things just don’t work out. Someone gets sick, a babysitter cancels, husband has to work late. It’s life. So once I got over that, I realized that even though the date would’ve been what I needed too, what I really needed under it all was to just spend an evening enjoying my life. Something to fill my heart and fill me with gratefulness, and I wasn’t going to get that feeling by sitting on the couch sulking.

I had my cry when Nic got home, and then we took the kids fishing.

That one hour out at the waters edge with my four plus one filled me. The look on Emerson’s face as he proudly held his very own fishing rod. Gus walking dangerously close to the water, like a ticking time bomb – I was waiting for him to take a little unplanned swim. Guin acting like such a big girl, “I just need to focus on my thing. I need to focus on getting a fish.” And our precious Rosie waking up from a nap and happily giving snuggles as we watched the older kids hold their fishing rods, patiently waiting for something to bite.

How can such a simple evening activity bring such contentment? We drove 10 minutes down the road. There were mosquitoes, the drive to the water was so rough that I thought we were going to leave a bumper and oil pan behind, and it smelled faintly of dead fish. We were gone for max two hours from the house. But that time filled me as much as my fancy date would’ve. I breathed in the fresh wet air as we drove closer to the lake and took the time to appreciate the beauty of the setting sun over the fields of rich black soil. I took pictures of the kids in their innocent enjoyment of this simple happening.

It brought contentment because I was present and looking for those little things that I was grateful for. It wasn’t anything crazy extraordinary, but it was special. We were together.

And I will get my cheesecake factory one of these days.