Running Away

Paul and I are exhausted. We both worked full shifts today, but we dont care. We are speeding up the mountain, a little giddy as we escape. We are running away for an evening, trying to capture a few quiet moments to ourselves. Trying to remember the parts of ourselves that get lost in the rotation of our responsibilites.

Our destination is a restaurant in Lake Arrowhead. It is a small lodge with rave reviews. We slide into the last free table before the grown-ups show up with their reservations. Our waitress is friendly and welcoming. We scan the menu, I giggle at the side note for the brushette “no first dates please!”

This is far from our first date.

Impromptu, I declare to Paul that it is this very fact we are here tonight.

“We’re celebrating our anniversary?”

“Yes, so order whatever you want.”

“Okay, I didn’t know we were doing that tonight…”

I smile, again a little giddy from the speed our life has been going, “When else will we have time?”

So it is decided and our view of the menu changes. We order the brushetta, and a bottle of Black Velvet wine. We both smirk as we order the wine, knowing that since Paul is driving I will be drinking most of it.

Our appetizer comes and is amazing, the way it should be on a night like this. We order dinner, Paul has steak and I order the black cod special. We wait for our entrees and our waitress holds a baby so her mother can eat.

“If I ever own a restaurant, it would be like this. Excellent and welcoming.”

Paul just rolls his eyes and smiles, the way he always does when I have a “new” idea.

Dinner is exceptional. The fish melts like butter and the steak is actually medium rare. The baby is handed off to a new waitress and we order dessert: chocolate gnache for me and coconut creme brulee for Paul. Paul orders a coffee and I sip the last of the wine. We both smile.

We leave the restuarant as the sun is setting over the lake somewhere. We drive along the curvy mountain roads until we can catch a glimpse of it, finally settling into an abandoned house lot. We drop the tailgate and sit in the bed listening to the laughter of a family in the water below us.

The simplicity and serenity begs us to ask questions of “what if’s” and “why not’s.” I wonder when the next time I will be in these mountains as our near future is taking us away to new ranges. I decided it was better not wonder, it was better to enjoy the feeling of the wine and my husbands arm around my shoulders.

As the sunset we began our desent back into Riverside, with windows open and english lads singing. As they sang for an awakening of souls, I let mine dream, trusting the twilight stars and my husband at the wheel.