As Mad Dog and I gathered around the corner table with his colleagues from the weekend awards’ summit, someone asked me if I had recovered from the Tiki Bar from the day before. My hands immediately went to my ears at the sound of the words ‘tiki’ and ‘bar’ as my body shuddered at the memory. Not because of my day spent at the Tiki Bar, more likely, because of the after-effects of my day at the Tiki Bar.
It had all started out innocently enough. Mad Dog and I had a rare opportunity to go to the hotel’s gym for a workout together. We were making the most of our kid-free getaway while also celebrating the enumerable accomplishments of Mad Dog’s incredible work team. You can’t not have fun celebrating other people, this awards’ summit is seriously one of my favorite events of the whole year. Post-workout we continued our charade of having zero responsibility. We parked ourselves at table by the Tiki Bar for an oceanside lunch accompanied by some ridiculously awesome cocktails. Our intent was to enjoy a drink or two, then head back to our room to get dressed up for dinner date. It quickly went off the rails (in the best possible way) from there. We found some friends hanging out at the bar, pulled up some barstools and proceeded to not leave for another 10 hours. I tried to blame Mad Dog later for not supervising me better, but he promised he had done his part. The problem was all his friends and colleagues were courteously buying me cocktails without his knowledge. I honestly don’t know how many drinks I had. This all eventually led to an epic day/night of fun and laughter but, you know where this is going, the aftermath of which I payed for dearly.
I was extremely disappointed I had to miss a good portion of the events the following day. I truly wanted to support Mad Dog and his team for all the hard work leading up to this summit. However, I simply could not. Mad Dog had to tuck me in and with lots and lots of Gatorade, I made a slow and steady recovery.
I was so worried about how people would react to my absence but across the board, everyone was so supportive and understanding. I had no reason to feel guilty or ashamed. They all said that a mom should be allowed to have a carefree night of fun.
I’m in no way suggesting that you need to go on a massive bender to reclaim your individuality, but it’s okay to let your hair down on occasion whatever that looks like for you.
Never forget the wild-child that lived in your heart as you grew into womanhood and beyond.
She deserves a day at the Tiki Bar.
Writes for all Mommies 