Our First Date

I can't believe Air Boss and I had our first date since arriving in California almost five months ago. Our date was about five years overdue (coincidentally, about the same age as 'Shroom).

We dropped 'Shroom and Lolli off with L.A. Grandpa and Grandma along with their bedtime buddies (a monkey and a duck), change of clothes and their sleeping bags. We hugged, said our good-byes to the kids and burned rubber as we peeled out of the driveway (kidding, but I don't recall looking back).

What did we do with our weekend "getaway-without-really-getting-away"? Air Boss took me to Griffith Park which had this huge observatory. I didn't know that the famous "Hollywood" sign was perched on Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park. Of course we went without a camera. All we had were our cell phone cams and the photo of me standing in front of the white letters resemebled a big dust speck in the pix. Oh well. You'll just have to take my word on it that we were there.

We had lunch at a little Taiwanese cafe. It was so awesome to be able to have a conversation with my husband and look him in the eye for more than a split second. It was amazing to be able to chat with him about small and big things and not be interrupted. If our date had ended after this simple meal, I could and would have been happy.

Air Boss indulged me and took me to Rodeo Drive. In all my trips to LA, I had never been to this part of Beverly Hills. Not that I wanted to shop (or could afford to buy anything) but I just wanted to see what it was like. Yes - lots of expensive stores. We didn't even step inside most of the stores. It was like walking along Newbury St. in Boston but with palm trees, more than your usual expensive 6-digit foreign cars, and chandelier street lights (encased in glass boxes). I watched a bit nervously as Air Boss had to parallel park behind a Bentley (or was it a Rolls Royce?).

On our way to dinner, we drove through the hills of 90210 and although the sun had already set, we saw gorgeous homes. Gorgeous. And not one of them the same. I'm sure these were the cheaper homes simply for the fact that we could see them from the road.

"Look, their driveways are so long and circular that they don't need to park on the streets," was my astute observation. Spoken like a true Southern Cal resident where cars outnumber people and thus available parking spaces (driveway, street, and illegal).

Dinner was Japanese cuisine eaten in a quaint garden terrace in Studio City. The air was very brisk (downright cold for the Southern Californians) but with the heat lamps which making year-round outdoor dining possible, it was comfortable enough. I think I ate the best sushi in my life that night. Yum. The caterpiller roll was still warm from the tasty crisp unagi and the avacado wrap was firm and delicious. The cucumber-wrapped rolls were crunchy with a tang of lemon. Yum. Yum again. The thought of finding a "kid-friendly" dish never even crossed my mind. I think I surprised myself at how quickly I pulled off my mommy-hat (and perhaps even more surprised that I remembered where I put it so I could it back on).

Even though I am 3,000 miles away from my family, I am so thankful that I have Air Boss's family nearby and that they have been so gracious in taking the kids in for a night. My sister-in-law bathed four kids (ages 3, 4, 5, and 6) all by herself with her eyes closed and one hand behind her back (just kidding). But she DID bath them all and took them to church the next day. Amazing. So grateful for her generosity and availability to help out even with her own two kids.

Well, I'm hoping that it won't take another five years for Air Boss and me to go on our next date. It was nice to hold someone's hand for a reason other than to cross the street.