A Perk of Older Kids

I am often the one to wax nostalgically about when my kids were little and required constant supervision of a parental nature. I didn't plan a spontaneous outing ever unless their dad was around or miraculously my three were all occupied elsewhere.  Now that  our progeny have all reached respectable ages of young adulthood (at least in their own minds)  they rarely inform us where they are going exactly (well you know based on past experience they are not going any where particularly exotic, like New York City or places more foreign to them) I am now free to do things based on whims of my own. So, when a friend suggests we meet for drinks after work on a Friday night at RiverMarket, I am there without needing to arrange anything but my clothing, face and hair after making a quick call to the husband to tell him dinner will be on the latish side and would he mind whipping something up when he gets around to it?
Sometimes nothing is nicer than a few leisurely hours at a softly lit bar to slowly sip a glass of wine (or something stronger), to chat uninterrupted over a small plate of delicious fare and catch up with a friend where confidences are easily exchanged. 
Arriving home, my husband and I curled up and talked in the quiet of the house. And our kids, arrived home after we fell asleep, as tired parents are wont to do. Amazing how things have morphed and changed for our clan here in Sleepy Hollow.