Finding the humor in it all

Here’s what’s funny ... we know it’s coming. We see it coming, yet we aren’t about to change a thing. So why not embrace it and laugh. Aging.

My kids all know they shouldn’t plan on a lucid conversation with me if they dare call after 7:30 p.m. because there is an 82 percent chance I’ll be sound asleep. By 8 p.m. it jumps to about 96 percent chance. Anything after 9 p.m. ... forget about it.

But since my day always starts around 4:30 a.m. and I have never been one to sleep soundly through the entire night ... well, let’s face it ... I’m generally too pooped to pop in prime time.

Maybe it’s a throw back to having children, listening for them to breathe or for their little footsteps in the night. Then in later years, it’s lying in bed listening for them to return home from an evening out after the get their driver’s license (if I wasn’t pacing by the window watching for headlights coming down the road) ... or for their big footsteps in the night.

Whatever the case, it’s a standing joke my bedtime is earlier than that of my 5-year-old grandson.

So Mick and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary Valentine’s Day.

In the past we’ve taken some vacation time over the February holiday to head to a warmer climate to celebrate and we’d have my mom house-sit for us so she could care for our three dogs (Aspen, Belle the Bloodhound and Cricket) while we were gone.

In December, we briefly toyed with the idea of going ahead with our February vacation by loading up the ‘girls,’ hitching up to the camper and driving south. We went as far as to look into campgrounds on the Gulf Coast. Thinking about the fun the girls could have running along the beach makes me giggle a little. I can just see Belle galloping across the edge of the water ... ears and jowls fluttering in the breeze. Of course my imagination plays this scene in slow motion, which is probably why I giggle envisioning it.

But Mick got cold feet. Taking the girls to an area campground is one thing, but traveling 1,000 miles with 250 pounds of fur all the way to Texas in February? We might just be stepping out of our comfort zone.

So anyway ... back to Valentine’s Day.

Since we weren’t leaving the state for a “fun in the sun’ vacation,” we’d made reservations several weeks back for our celebratory dinner out. We left home to do some shopping that morning and while on our way to the first store, Mick got on his phone and called the restaurant to change our 6 p.m. dinner reservations to ... wait for it ... 4 p.m. FOUR O’CLOCK! I know we’re getting older, but what was he thinking!

As embarrassing as it may have been, we showed up at the restaurant at 4 p.m. sharp — well, us and a couple out celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary. That’s right ... we were dining at the same time as an adorable husband and wife in their late 80s.

I will say we were well taken care of and with so few food orders being placed at that time of the afternoon. I’m certain ours were the only steaks on the grill so our food came right out.

Heck, we were even back home and in our sweats by 5:15 p.m. And to think, 37 years ago when we were dating our evenings didn’t even begin until 8 or 9 p.m.

But frankly, when it’s lights out at 7:30 p.m., maybe dining at 4 p.m. isn’t really such a bad idea.

Contact Dana King at dking@shawmedia.com