New things.

Josie invited us to come help clean up a local park this morning with some friends. I almost didn't go because Joel was working and then I have to keep an eye on both kids and then we did potluck lunch afterwards which means I have to bring something and then also assemble food for both my kids and then also feed myself and ughhhhh.

But I'm trying not to be lame about stuff like this and just go. So we went! And it was amazing! All the garbage gets buried in the snow, and then when spring hits, the parks are filthy, and it's super satisfying to clean up something that's super dirty. Eleanor ran around finding the BIGGEST PIECES OF GARBAGE SHE COULD FIND and also weaseling her way into briar-y patches that I was too big to get into.

And then both girls just ate their sandwiches like grown-up persons, and there were SO MANY ADULT BODIES around and also a handful of BIG KIDS and people just had eyes on other people's kids and it was just completely easy and fun, which was not what I was expecting.

Other areas in which I have been trying not to be lame: Joel and I had our anniversary date while his parents were here, and I was like Ooooh, let's go see Deadpool. But then Joel came home and is like, We are going to a Breakout Room for our date, and I'm like, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THAT IS but it sounds like effort.

IT WAS ALSO AMAZING. Apparently everyone but me has heard of these? But so we got locked in a room where a murder had been committed and the lights were out and we got little flashlights and there were clues everywhere, and we had to figure out the clues to unlock the boxes and the safes and the wardrobe (and a dead body fell out of the wardrobe and I SCREAMED) to get out of the room, and we only had an hour.

And my mother-in-law had done one before with a group, as a team-building exercise, and they didn't make it out of their room. And we had just the two of us! So I assumed we probably weren't going to finish but we DID and it was ENORMOUSLY SATISFYING and then we went to one of those Japanese restaurants where they chop and grill all your food in front of you and make a little volcano out of the onion, and we rehashed each of the puzzles and the codes and where we had gone wrong and how we would do better next time.

The older I get, the more introverted and resistant to change I get. I don't want to try new things, I like my current things. And when we first met, Josie told me that she would always invite me to things and that I should always feel free to say no, and that me saying 'no' wouldn't stop her from inviting me to things, and it was the MOST FREEING THING she could have said. And while winter is a time for treading safe paths, spring and it's nice weather and it's energy and light make me want to step out.