Cut thumb and nine holes of golf

N and I had a date yesterday. A date! This is a once-quarterly event for us, so we planned ahead, squared away child care and greatly anticipated the occasion for about a week in advance. We were so excited to play a game of real golf (not putt-putt) and then head out for Thai food to eat something really spicy because we wouldn't have to share it with tender-palated tots. Woohoo! I should mention we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday, so this date had a little extra meaning for us. (Yes, all of you who attended our blessed nuptials back in 2001 are that much older, too).

Here was our plan for the big date:
3:30 p.m. Baby-sitter arrival
4 p.m.: Tee time
6:30 p.m. dinner and drinks.


Here's what actually happened:
2 p.m.: babies napping, getting good and rested for pleasant childcare experience for neighbor P.

2:15: I'm dressed and ready and begin prepping chili and cornbread for P and the tots. Five slices into the first onion half and off goes the tip of my left thumb. Much bleeding, dancing around, avoiding expletive-spewing and reassuring myself that it wasn't so bad. Then I saw the tip of my poor thumb on the cutting board with those perfectly diced onions and began regretting my hasty chopping, which would no doubt affect my golf game and have a severe impact on our date. Blast you sharp knife!

2:30-3 p.m.: lying on the couch, arm elevated, wishing I could turn back time.

3:30 p.m.: N has salvaged dinner for the troops. I'm past the teetering-on-the-brink of-passing-out stage and the bleeding appears to have stopped. We depart for the course and I promise to at least give nine holes a try.

4 p.m.: Thunderstorms looming, rain drizzling, we arrive at the clubouse.

6:45 p.m.: Golf was so much fun and equally frustrating as every good golf game is. Cool temps. No rain. No bugs. And we had the place almost entirely to ourselves due to the questionable weather. The injured thumb and my lack of practice made the game take a little longer and we ended up nixing Thai food and opted instead for a cold beer at our own kitchen table with a nice bowl of chili--so good it was nearly worth losing part of a digit for it--nearly.