Yesterday was my birthday so Bobby and I decided to take a much
needed little getaway without Lola. I was looking forward to some
long forgotten silence and dinner in a restaurant without crayons
and keeping the food at the far end of the table.

We hit the road at 11:00 am because we simply cannot get out of town at a decent hour anymore. We have to get ourselves ready, walk the dogs, feed Lola, pack up everything she needs and may possibly want while we’re away and drop her off at my moms house before we can actually get on the freeway.

Once on the road we decided to abandon our plans to head into the big city and hang around the uber-hip folks in Portland’s Pearl District. Instead we opted for the Oregon coast and the town of Newport, which boasts the Northwest’s only sea aquarium.

The drive was relatively quiet, no explaining various farm animals and their accompanying sounds. No singing “The itsy bitsy spider” so many times that it just seems easier to turn the car into the next bridge abutment than reprise another round of the song.

It was a gloriously warm and sunny day in Newport and we had a nice lunch and adult conversation on the waterfront before heading the the aquarium. Once we hit the admissions desk I knew we’d made a huge mistake by leaving Lola behind. These facilities are designed with kids in mind, not to mentions those under 3 years of age are free...

She would have loved the fish and birds and especially the otters. We spent the entire time walking around saying “oh, Lola would love this” and “she’d be so excited to see that”. We essentially spent the whole trip lamenting her non presence. It seemed that something was missing, we didn’t seem “complete” anymore. Its like taking off for a picnic and leaving the food behind. I can only imagine how “empty nesters” feel after having kids at home for 20 or 30 years running. If I’m lucky, by then my Alzheimers will have kicked in and I’ll have no idea that she’s out on her own and I’m left with a quiet and still house.

Until then, we are currently planning our next trip *with* Lola, and its likely we won’t leave her behind again because having a little person to share our lives with is precisely why we adopted in the first place...lesson learned...its not about us anymore, its about us as a family.