This weekend Matt and I were able to steal some time alone (thanks Mom!) It's always a precious commodity, but we're feeling it even more now with just a couple more months to go before we have a new little babe at home. Sneaking off to quiet dinners will have to be forgotten for a little while. So with a little more than 24 hours at our disposal, we made the decision to not fill the time catching up with friends, or work, or home projects still incomplete.  Instead we took a three-hour walk in our neighborhood, grabbing a snack on Main Street in Santa Monica before heading over into Venice. We found interesting plants we want to include in our yard at home, a few new places to eat, some interesting stuff on Abbott Kinney, and our hands kept finding each other pretty often too. 

We came home at dark to an empty house. I was able to read the Sunday Times in its entirety, Matt put on some Dave Brubeck and fixed himself a Martini. All before a very indulgent dinner. It was just our kind of evening.

 Of course we are always happy to see our boys after any sort of separation. It's amazing how fast (minutes I think) that everything falls right back into place, as though the time away from them was merely just a pause. With them life moves as it does. That evening found us eating with friends and all their children, us coaxing the kids to eat, to play just a little quieter so we could hear ourselves talk. A movie put on just to chill them out. We know it well.

All the while I carried with me the peace of my afternoon the day before. Watching my husband smile, feeling him relax, enjoying his life where we live. He works so hard. Remembering how often we used to have those moments before our children were born. But it would not be as sweet, I do know, without them. They are what make all of it worth it, all of it sweet, in whatever form it takes.