In my Mommy life, I cannot hang with booze; but I like to. It’s a blast while enjoying the booze, but it’s a magnified kick in the face, the next day when you’re a Mommy. It’s not like the college days of sleeping-in, lazing around, zero responsibility. Just you and your hangover–doing nothing–commiserating together. 

Hangover day, it’s you, your head-throbbing hangover, heightened anxiety and your young kids. It’s still time to get up at the crack of dawn, with immediate kid requests for juice, snacks, popsicles (doesn’t matter that it’s breakfast), TV shows, and more. Then, there’s an immediate shift into full throttle whining, siblings yelling, and tormenting each other. 

Keep in mind, this all happens before coffee, too. 

But, don’t let my intro fool you. I still enjoy hanging out with my boozy friend. Since kids make it a fiasco to get out of the house, and sitters are expensive, and booze is even more expensive on a night out, the best way to hang out is to have a BBQ with friends and their kids, at someone’s house.  

In theory, this scene is ideal. The kids all play together, nicely. And, because they have other kids to entertain them, they aren’t filling every moment with a request for something, or saying your name repeatedly while clinging to your legs, saying, “uppy”. 

The kids go on their merry way, giving us parents time to visit, maybe even talk without interruption, and rekindle our friendship with each other, and with our other friend; booze. 

You’re more thankful for this time all together than you ever imagined, since having kids, typically, makes hanging out an impossibility. As parents, we accept this with our territory and parental responsibility. But, the fact that we hang out less, raises the odds of getting a little too close to our booze. 

It will sneak up on you–BAM; wasted. The fun, summer homemade mixed drinks are delicious and dangerous. They are the equivalent of jungle juice. You don’t even taste the alcohol. And, depending on the level of parental exhaustion you will either, fall asleep really early in a random location, or, become the life of the party. It can go either way. 

Most recently it was the yummy peach sangria that my friend made that did me in. I was sucking it down, relaxing poolside. As I was finishing my second glass, I turned to my friend and said, “what’s in this Sangria?”. Oh, it has Peach schnapps in it, with the wine and alcohol-drenched peaches. I, was in trouble. 

But, I stayed in it for the long haul and called it a night after some 1am Kan Jam. The next day, well, I was a lump, trying to take care of my crazy kids. But, hey, we all had fun at that pool party; sangria, friends and I.