Return to Adulthood

I mentioned on my Twitter feed yesterday that Donald and I have the house to ourselves until Sunday. I was so excited that I was giddy when I came home from work. I was overjoyed to:

Go to the grocery store because
(1) I hadn't set foot in the store for at least a month, probably more;
(2) Donald and I used to have a weekly ritual of going to the grocery store together;
(3) I had planned our dinner menu for the night and I couldn't wait to try a new recipe.

Cook because
(1) Except for the dessert I made a couple weekends ago, I hadn't cooked in months;
(2) I was making a new recipe;
(3) I feel like I'm fulfilling my role as Donald's wife (more on this in another post).

We also got to have a quiet dinner for two, something we never get to do when the in-laws are home, and something we won't get to do once we're lucky enough to have a family. It's something to cherish.

It also helped that dinner was fabulous! Ree, if you read my blog at all, you should know that I also love your favorite burger. It tasted like heaven last night. The caramelized onions were the perfect complement to the blue cheese. You'll laugh though - we used less ground beef than your recipe called for, but still used the same amount of salt and pepper! We'll fix that next time! I have never had such a juicy burger. I will be making this again (and maybe next time I won't make Donald handle the meat. I know, it's something I need to work on).

The thing that made me most excited though, was a return to adulthood. My in-laws don't treat us like children, but the simple fact that we are living under their roof means that we cannot be independent adults. Last night, we were completely responsible for ourselves again. No one would do anything for us. We had to do it ourselves. I felt liberated. I jumped up and down and whooped and shouted "I love my husband!" I felt whole again and so did he.

Before we went to bed, we laid down on our backs outside and tried to see the Perseid meteor shower. Despite the light pollution from the big city nearby, I saw one and made a wish. I won't tell you what it was.