Do you know what time it is?

That's right boys and girls, it's play date time!! I finally am making the time to get back to doing one of my favorite weekly "things", Mama Kat's Writers' Workshop. This week's prompts are not rubbing me in a good kind of way, but I am going to do it anyway. So out of the five choices, I chose to write about mommy play dates.



The actual prompt is: "Mommy play dates? What's your experience with mom dating?"



WTF!! Mama Kat, are you lobbing me a loaded question? This prompt is so ambiguous! Well let me tell you that there are several ways one could look at this prompt.



First, I do not have toddlers, so the actual event which I think she is talking about doesn't apply. I would probably be arrested and jailed for setting up a play date and not having a toddler of my own when all the moms and dads showed up and I was just standing around observing. Really, I am not Michael Jackson or a wayward priest, so we'll leave that one alone.



Second, the thought of having a play date with MY mommy at my age would be a committable offense. Any grown man having a play date with his mommy has got some problems he needs to address, period. My mom is old and she can be a bit confused sometimes, but I am not finger painting or playing with play-doh or anything like that with her. Really, she enjoys James Bond movies and such. So let's avoid that one also.



So the only other situation that a mommy play date could occur would involve a mom not my own and not with kids in tow. Hmmmmmmm, please elaborate. I mean would this actually be a date with a mom who was wanting to play and have fun, like putt putt golf or bowling; maybe jogging or even a workout in the gym. You know, time to herself with a friend or group of friends (everyone else thinking happy hour here??). Or would it be more of the "play date" kind of fun?



There in lies the problem these days. People do what they do and we all, as adults, have to allow for free will. I know a whole team full of rugby playing men, most of them single. The general dynamic of this group is quite interesting. I have teammates that think of very little else than their next "play date" with whichever mommy they can attract to play, and there is no shortage of mommies who want to play. Some of the mommies are even wives, girlfriends or daughters of their other teammates (are we all thinking MAJOR PROBLEM here??). But, there is that free will thing, getting in the way.



I, for one, have had my experiences with "mom play dates", and having lost a wife and my kids due to choices I made; I am not to keen on helping others make that same mistake. Don't get me wrong, I could have a play date with an unattached mommy. I like kids. But I seem to have a much more fine tuned sense of trying my best not to hurt another person emotionally, whether it be the mom or the man who was entwined with the mom or the kids that are an undeniable part of the mom's life. I didn't and don't enjoy the pain that I am experiencing from my past and I don't want to contribute to that kind of pain in someone else's life.



So, I guess what I am saying is that if you are a mom (or think you might want to be a mom someday), that we could have a play date, maybe. But don't expect me to play doctor on the first date (or postmaster or any other games like that). But do expect to relax and enjoy yourself and possibly have a second or third play date.



And for the record, the play dates I enjoy the most include things like lawn concerts, drive in movies, regular movies, bowling, museums, zoos, art showings, outdoor adventures (canoeing, fishing, hunting, bird watching), arboretums, parades, book browsing, nice dinners, campfires, and much more.



See you all next week!