My mom and Stoy watched the kids for the weekend. BLESS THEM! It gave Aaron and I a chance to act like kids, instead of rear them.
One of Aaron's mission friends, Nathan Gordon, invited us to Park City to hang out with him and some friends that would be there for the Sundance Film Festival. He had rented a condo and we had a great time meeting everyone there for the festivities.
The thing that makes it blog-worthy is the introspection it caused me. You see, Nathan is single, and fun. I felt like a senior citizen as the oldest person at the condo. I think the youngest was Bridgette at a fresh and perky 20 (maybe 19). For the first time in my life I felt aged.
Weird feeling.
Going to Sundance was a little like falling into a portal to my life between 1987-1998. It was full of hot tubs, meeting new people and having tons of fun with people I may never see again.
Nathan, Bridgette and a number of other people I don't know in the hot tub, just after Aaron and another new friend threw cold water on them from the deck above.
I have never been a self-concious person, but I did not want to get in the hot tub with this crowd. I know that Heff doesn't mind hanging in the hot tub with playboy bunnies half his age, but I just couldn't bring myself and my stretch marks to hop in all together and say, "Hi. I'm Emily. I have three kids and have been married over half of your life."
By the second day, I was feeling a little less geeky. I think the option to be fully clothed in the group helped. We went out to dinner and met up with everyone on Main Street in Park City. It was one of the funnest and funniest nights I've had in a long time. We took obnoxious pictures and Aaron and I watched everyone else try to pick up on random "lonely"s on the sidewalks. (Did I mention that we were the only married people at the party?) We hit a midnight showing of a Sundance Film, The Informer, a disturbing depiction of L.A. in the 1980's at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. And returned to the Condo and Hot Tub. We stayed up til dawn and slept in late.
I remember when that was my life. It doesn't seem like I have changed, but my life certainly has. The only reason I have been up at 4:30 am over the past 8 years was if I had a baby feeding, crying or puking. Or if my alarm was waking me to get to the gym to burn off that "baby fat".
It was fun to re-live those days. And it was fun to come home. I guess my life couldn't be better. I have the best of both worlds. Aaron and I manage to fill our marriage with time together and time with our kids. Personally I need both. And I have both. Lucky me.