Getaway Guilt

For the first time in four years, since we've been parents, Bill and I left the kids at home with a sitter and we spent the night in Denver. We had been talking about doing this for a while, but the problem always came down to finding a sitter. Well, my friend and training client talked about doing trades for overnight babysitting a few months ago. I was game. As long as I could bring my laptop so I could work when her kids were asleep, it would be a piece of cake.

Once the date was set, we got a hook up for our hotel room and I started looking for fancy-pants restaurants to go to. Everything was set and the night we were leaving I started dinner and bedtime routines just before my friend came over.

And Carter started to get a fever.

I had so much guilt and didn't know what to do. We had these plans in place, had been looking forward to this night for so long, my friend was on her way and now Carter was crashing. He only had a low-grade fever, but still. A freakin' fever.

My friend arrived and I told her what was up. Having more experience in child care than most people (it's her business) she said that it was cool and told me not to worry. We made a deal - if he started puking, then I'd owe her a weekend (what an awesome friend she is!)

It took me the whole drive to Denver to shake that guilt from not only leaving the kids for a night for the first time, but leaving my toddler sick. I knew they were in great hands, but ugh...mom guilt is insane. Once we got to the hotel though, everything was fine and we were ready to have fun.

After discovering that I left my toothbrush at home and waiting a ridiculous amount of time for room service to bring one up for me, we left the hotel too late to eat diner at any of the amazing restaurants that I wanted to try. We walked around the corner from the hotel and found a recommended spot - that was a sports grill. As a food writer, I opened the menu and my heart broke. Burgers, fries and the Nuggets game on flat screen TV's when I was looking forward to white table cloths and duck confit.

At first I was so upset I was getting angry. I felt a bit cheated. But, I got a martini, thought "what the hell, we're out and no matter what, we'll have fun." Bill suggested a menu item, I got it and we did in fact, have fun.

After dinner we took a carriage ride around the 16th street mall and Larimer Square. It was fun and we chatted up the driver while shivering in the cold. We went bar hopping all over, and went to a few clubs. We had an amazing, fun, wild time. Our night ended up being our own version of The Hangover, but rather than missing teeth, random babies and a tiger in the bathroom; I had my wallet and phone stolen and a mysterious gigantic bruise on my knee. I guess shots of Patron will do that.

We picked up the pieces, canceling our credit/debit cards, bank accounts and putting a security shutdown on my phone. We drove home laughing about what had transpired. It was only a $30-something loss from the thief filling up their gas tank at a gas station. No harm done, really. And I got to upgrade my phone to a Blackberry (something I really needed now that writing is taking off).

We got home and the kids were fine. Logan, who I was never really worried about because he can pretty much take care of himself, did very well. Carter was even fine, despite not feeling well (and never threw up). We hung out and cuddled with the boys, watched TV and laughed about our night out. It was a great one night getaway...even if I don't recall the last half.

Now we'll see how much getaway guilt I have when we go to Vegas for the weekend. And hopefully I won't find a tiger in the bathroom.