Letting Loose

I can hardly believe the words as I type them, but... becoming a parent has taught me how to let loose.

To have fun, with pure abandonment, without a care in the world.

Surely I learned this pre-mommyhood, say, in college perhaps? Nope. Back then I still cared a lot about what other people thought. Back then I took hanging out with friends and having fun for granted.

Not anymore. Not after two kids.

This weekend, we went into Boston with our good friends to celebrate two of them turning 30. They rented a SUV so that the 7 of us could ride together. First stop was the Sam Adams Brewery for a tour and tastings. The tour guide said the rowdier we were, the more beer he'd pour, so we happily obliged with whoops, clapping and cheering. During the tasting at the end, we got our whole table singing "Sweet Caroline", something you never would have caught me doing pre-kids.

Next was one of Boston's best-kept secrets: the Sam Adams Brewery offers a free party trolley that takes you to Doyle's, the first pub that took a chance on serving Sam Adams. It's also a pub where a few famous movies have been filmed- "Mystic River" and "21". On the way there, the driver makes you laugh hysterically, by saying "DOYLE'S" in his awesome Boston accent, and playing "Oh What a Night" by Frankie Valli and the Four Tops at top volume. You can't help but get in a fun mood if you're not in one already.

After delicious appetizers at Doyle's, we hopped back on the party trolley to go back to the Brewery, where the SUV was parked. It was a warm day, so we decided to take over the back of the trolley. This time, the driver played "That's the Way I Like It", and we all started singing along to it, trying not to fall over when the trolley braked.

I couldn't stop smiling.

It was the most fun I had in a while.

Before you're a parent, you don't really realize how fortunate you are to be able to have friends over on a whim and to go out whenever you want to. Now, knowing how few and far between these moments with friends can be, I soaked in every minute. It felt really good, for one afternoon, to let loose on the back of a trolley in the streets of Boston.