This is the life.

Friday nights used to be reserved for going out to dinner before kids. Rourk and I would come in from work, get a little dressed up and go out to one of our favorite restuarants. Sometimes this was a run of the mill place, but most of the time it was not. As I think about those days I am taken back to our many trips to Pearl's. And it was a trip indeed. Pearl's is located in Sewanee Tennesse on Monteagle Mountain which is approximately 45 miles from downtown Chattanooga. When Rourk and I frequented Pearl's we lived in Stevenson, Alabama and would go "the back way" up the mountain instead of taking the interstate. That was part of the adventure. We'd often go to Pearl's with John and Angela Graham. They were actually the ones that introduced us to Pearl's almost ten years ago. We'd all drive up the mountain, have a great meal, enjoy great company, laugh a lot and make an entire evening of it. There was a time when we'd go to Pearl's once a month.

Fast forward to last night, a typical Friday night in our home. Rourk cooked a wonderful dinner. He's a very good cook. He baked a chicken and made ratatouille. The ratatouille had fresh tomatoes and herbs from our garden. It was my first time having this dish and I enjoyed it very much. If I were a food critic I'd give the meal four stars. (Do you rate meals with stars?) After dinner we moved on to the night's entertainment, a Sing-a-Long. We are turning into a loud family. Right there at the dinner table we all start singing the Alphabet Song and Happy Birthday. Both are on the Freeman Top 10 these days. We sing them over and over. Lilly is laughing, but I am sure she doesn't know why. She's just happy to be a part of the party. Ryan finishes a song and immediatly exclaims "Again." The mayham continues until we decide to go outside for a few minutes just before dark. There's swinging and sliding and tomatoe picking. As it gets dark we all start to slow down a bit, maybe the sugar rush from the ice cream is running its course. It's after eight and time for the little kiddies to go to bed. We march them up to the bathroom and the energy of the night is still lingering. Ryan's dancing and jumping about and Lilly is wide-eyed and grinning. We slip them into the bathtub and scrub them down. Rourk and I then plop onto the floor and rest our backs against the wall to watch them play before we put them to bed. We sit in silence for a few minutes and then I turn to him and say, "This is the life." Rourk takes a second or two to look at Ryan and Lilly and then he turns to me with a smile and says, "Yes, it is."