While drafting, editing and detailing the line-items of the babysitter list, re-working the language to ensure clarity at every turn, the moment our nervous bottoms hit the road, the soundtrack to the most recent kid’s movie is instantly replaced with 80’s rock and we make no excuses for nodding uncontrollably, somewhat off-beat but completely in the moment.

We stop “shushing” our partner’s boisterous laughter, the radio announcer’s overzealous shouting, Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” is on the horizon and we sink a little deeper into a place in time we desperately needed to find in order for our sanity to return.

If we are fortunate enough to have a getaway longer than dinner and a movie, requiring a packed bag for overnight accommodations, there were no lists to reference with regards to packing diapers, snacks and favourite blankies. A “grown-up only” bag with a dusty case that might have one day housed something resembling make-up, an extra pair of stretched granny panties, something comfortable and practical to sleep in.

At first, in those quiet moments when we can actually hear ourselves blink, the guilt is somewhat overwhelming. Is the babysitter reviewing the list and checking all appendices for amendments, addendums and footnotes? And then it occurs to us as we drink from a glass rather than a plastic sippy, that we are perusing the kids menu hoping to find something we can stomach on the mommy-clean-up round for no reason at all.

The conversation shifts from easy school lunch recipes and at what point our children will know more about computers than we do, to a playful game of “I never”, “name that tune” or even comfortable silence.

It’s a huge adjustment to bring kids into our lives and an even bigger one to remember life without them.

Then someone calls “Mommy” and we simply smile, nose a little deeper into the balloon glass of shiraz. Did I include “no alcohol in the chapter on liquids? That’s obvious isn’t it?”

Your shoulders relax, you glance across the table at the person staring at you and say, “Oh right, you’re that guy who lives in my house. Did you happen to bring along a pen and some paper?”