Recently my husband was talking about how he needed an activity or a hobby to take the edge off. Something he can do to escape the chaos and re-center him to be his best self when taking care of our girls. Luckily for me, I’ve had my escape for 10+ years, and it’s a tradition I hope never ends.
For over a decade, three of my best friends and our moms have all come together every Monday night to indulge in some mindless, drama-filled TV romance with The Bachelor.
It started as a couple of friends watching The Bachelor together while munching on some chips and crackers and perhaps a glass of wine. It has now transformed into a night to catch up, make elaborate and delicious appetizers, and always indulge in a decadent dessert. We graduated from wine to hard seltzers and cheese and crackers to full meals.
Every week we rotate between our houses. The hostess takes in the brunt of the food while everyone else offers to bring something. We used to watch the show intently, discussing date details and gushing over our favorites. We even completed a Bachelor bracket to determine who our Bachelor Night winner would be at the end of the season. We have made hats representing our top picks and handed out roses to each other on the finale.
It started with just The Bachelor, and then we began watching The Bachelorette together. Finally, we tacked on Bachelor in Paradise, which happens to be all of our favorites. After over a decade, we have finally concluded that the show isn’t that great.
But the bond we all share, the laughs we all have, and the friendships we have deepened are truly the reason we have kept this tradition alive.
In the last ten years, we have graduated college, three of us have gotten married, three of us have had babies, new jobs, promotions, new homes, new puppies…we’ve been there through it all. Three of us now all live next door to each other and are neighbors! It makes the late work night commute back to our house much more manageable!
Every Monday we catch up on our weekly happenings and are truly invested in each other’s lives and stories. We’ve all stuck to being a part of the group, even if it meant an hour-long drive to get there on a Monday night or rearranging baby schedules, hockey practices, and late-night work hours.
In the end, I hope our tradition builds and expands with our children. I hope our children learn the value in unwinding, sipping on wine with your closest ladies and that hanging out with your Mama is pretty dang fun.
We have celebrated accomplishments, mourned losses, laughed, cried, and spent hundreds of Monday nights on our couches together.
