A Girls Night

Tonight was the first of what I hope to be many Girls Nights. You can imagine all the wonderful and exciting things that a couple of moms could do in an Alaska bush village... that is damp (no buying or selling of alcohol but quite literally full of water and mud), but it was really fun.

We went down to the local Bingo Hall and stamped our little hearts out on those crazy numbers. We laughed, we cried, we wet our pants… well, not really, but almost. We were clearly the only people under 50 and as if that weren’t enough to make us stand out, we were also the only white people there. It was a little awkward when we first walked in, but once we got settled and the games began, we were all having so much fun that it just didn’t matter anymore. We even made friends with a few older ladies sitting next to us and got a kick out of winning some of our money back. They call those numbers fast and we could barely keep up. I even came out $2.50 ahead; what a kick!

I was thinking that we could find other fun things to do on Girls Night, like go to the local rec center for a sauna, or borrow some four wheelers and head out on the tundra. Hey, I could even wear some crazy goggles and get a fun helmet! Well, that’s all that I got in this wild and crazy town. I really don’t care what we do, but it is fantastic to just be me and not worry about what Kaia is climbing into, onto or out of.

It was fun to play with other moms and not talk about, clean up after, finish projects for, or be interrupted by our kids. I was able to dress up and feel great about just being me. No snot on my shirt. No food on my jeans. Real time spent on hair and makeup. I felt hot! Good therapy, and I hope that I can find other opportunities to get some more of that.