I had an awful dream…

I had an awful dream last night -- Kevin and I had decided we needed to break up, and we were having a very calm, very sad discussion of how we would handle all the logistics. He thought we should just stop work on the house, rather than sink more money into it. I thought that we needed to at least finish putting the walls back up, or no one would ever buy it. We had just started talking about what we'd do with the children when I woke myself up, crying. Then I woke him up, and made him tell me that he loved me, and that he would never leave me. To his credit, he didn't laugh at me at all.

We need a vacation. We're going to take one, too, or at least a mini vacation. Kevin decided to book us into a hotel for Valentine's weekend -- well, sort of. Because while Jarmila is here during the day Friday and Saturday (she takes Wednesday off this semester so she can catch up on homework), we still need to take care of the children in the evenings. But we both need a little down time, as well as some couple time, so here's the tentative plan:

• Friday morning: Mary Anne works, per usual, tries to catch up on anything deadline-ish -- probably this means finishing the superhero story revision, rewriting the big fight scene so it has quite a bit more action.

• Friday lunchtime: possible meeting with Dave re: basement plans (am trying to reschedule this now)

• Friday afternoon: see a movie! In a theatre! Which I think we haven't done since before Kavi was born, i.e., about three years. It'll either be Valentine's Day or Avatar, I think.

• Friday 4 p.m.: Kevin comes back to the house to watch kids; Mary Anne checks into little hotel (across the street from our new house, so we can see how it is for when folks come to visit)

• Friday evening: Mary Anne curls up in bed and reads a book. For pleasure. Without any children wanting anything from her. She goes to sleep when she's tired, and then she SLEEPS IN.

• Saturday 9ish: Jarmila arrives, and Kevin comes over to join Mary Anne in hotel. This may be a little odd, given that Kevin's been sleeping normally from 4 - noon, roughly. Don't know if he'll want to go back to sleep at that point or what. But whatever he feels like is okay.

• Saturday daytime: We hang out together at hotel, doing whatever we feel like. Maybe we'll go see another movie. Or play Agricola, or one of the several new two-person-friendly board games that Kevin bought us half a year ago, and which we haven't had any time to play since Anand was born.

• Saturday 4 p.m.: Mary Anne comes back to take over kid duty, and Kevin gets an entire blissful night off in the hotel.

• Sunday morning: Mary Anne continues watching kids until Kevin wakes up, comes home, and takes over, maybe around 1.

• Sunday afternoon: Kevin watches kids; Mary Anne goes back to hotel to nap!

• Sunday evening: Jarmila comes to watch the kids for a night (we'd be paying her extra for this). Kevin comes to pick up Mary Anne and we get to go out to dinner! Alone!

• Sunday night: We both get to sleep in the hotel, and sleep in!

• Monday lunchtime: We come back and see whether Jarmila survived a night alone with the kids. :-) Our vacation over, we come back to our normal lives. And grading. Lots and lots of grading.

And I think that's probably it. Those of you without children, be impressed at our logistical planning, please. Impressed and/or pitying. It's maybe not your typical Valentine's Day plans, since a key element is having some time alone! :-) But there's also some couple time built in too. I can't wait. :-)

9:10 update: Looked at some reviews of Valentine's Day -- oh, they are not promising. Much as I love a good romantic comedy, I don't think this is it. Maybe Up in the Air instead? Got way better reviews. Or maybe we'll just hang out in the hotel and watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- we got it from Netflix months ago and haven't had time to watch it together.