Last night, I had the silliest night I've had in awhile. A neighbor invited me to a game night she regularly has with a group of women. I basically didn't stop laughing for three hours straight.
We snacked on various desserts (butterscotch Rice Krispie treats! Freshly-made cannolis! Mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's!) and played Scattergories. For those of you not familiar with it, everyone picks a pre-printed list (say, #10) and you each get a copy of it. The list features different categories—things in a souvenir shop, terms of endearment, kinds of dances—and then a player rolls a gigantic dice with letters of the alphabet. Once the letter's picked, the timer is set and you have to come up with words that begin with that letter for every category.
There was plenty of heated debate (does "D'oh!" count as a famous phrase?) and constant cracking up. One round, there was a "d" on the table and a woman wrote "doodie" as her answer. The category: things you find in the Wild West. I can't tell you why, but I laughed so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. Max would surely have appreciated it, too.
Hanging out with friends and laughing feels so good; it's not something I take for granted. In some ways, I think I'm still making up for the sad year, that year after I had Max when I had a constant and strong undercurrent of grief running through my veins. I went from being a perpetually cheerful, social person to someone who cried like a leaky faucet and didn't want to be around people. It wasn't just depressing, it was disconcerting. Who was the person I'd become?
It passed. It really and genuinely passed. These days, I'm not exactly the same person I was before I had kids—what parent ever is?—but I'm back to loving life (well, most days) and being my old social butterfly self.
A fun time with friends: another one of those things that make parenting kids with special needs easier. Come to think of it, I'm going to try to organize a get-together for readers/bloggers in the NY area at some point in the future. How amazing would that be? I'll bring the mini peanut butter cups!
When's the last time you had a good time with the girls?
