out on the town

Last night we put the kids in social storage and went out on the town with the Happy Singing John and Tracie Loux. At least that's what is airbrushed on the side of their van.

Or first stop was a Re:verse on the Plaza for dinner. It's decorated with a lot of stamped steel, red paint and trendy, beautiful people smoking. We landed a table against the back wall where Bobby the Slightly Forgetful Waiter brought us food that was not only attractive but honkin' good. Kelsey and I shared a bowl of noodles with olives, peppers, tomatoes, and grilled chicken. I would estimate the size of the bowl to be the same as an overturned washtub large enough to bath a 3 year old child. More or less.

After dinner we wandered out throught the trendy, beautiful people smoking to the street, found the 'burban, and headed back out to the suburbs for cheesecake. Somewhere over the cheesecake, dangerous questions began getting asked and we found ourselves staring at one another, trying to verbalize an answer to "What do you want to have accomplished in five years?"

For a while, we all muttered around the obvious, genuine responses about God, marriage and children. Yeah, yeah, we know. It's all true and we assume it. So what about you?

Moments of awkward silence. Eat more cheesecake. Sip coffee. Think. This should not be so stinking hard.

Finally someone gives it a shot. Then another. In short order, all four were answering, challenging one another in regards to answers, and thinking bigger together than we naturally do apart.

One minute we were four people sitting in the Cheesecake factory, each of us racing towards forty, and the next we were four nine year olds in the tree house whispering "Well, when I grow up, this is what I want to do....".

It felt good to be back in the tree house. It's higher than I remember it, but it feels remarkably solid.