As if freezing out in the cold for seven hours was even an option

I love going to back to Toledo, but now that I have two families - mine and my husband's - it's so much harder to strike a balance between seeing both sides plus any friends I want to catch up with while I'm home.

And this weekend was even more difficult because the main reason we trekked back to Toledo was for Brent, his three good friends from MBA school, and all their wives to get together and catch up.

So we landed in Toledo Thursday evening and our flight out on Sunday was at 6 a.m. Saturday was shot because we planned on being in Ann Arbor all day at the University of Michigan/Michigan State football game, so that left a whopping one day to try to cram everyone in at least once.

But since I've had several opportunities to practice, I think I've got this thing down to a science.

I'll plan one meal - preferably dinner, but I'll settle for a lunch - with all of my friends. Most of them know each other, so that makes it easier and more fun.

That leaves the morning and breakfast with one family and the afternoon or evening with the other family. After an exhausting Friday doing just this - and getting some random shopping in so we could take advantage of Midwestern price tags - I was actually looking forward to a relaxing Saturday eating and drinking at the tailgate party before the football game.

But then, after talking with his buddies, Brent told me there had been a SLIGHT change of plans. One of the couples wasn't able to make it for the weekend, so that left us and two other couples. Neither of the wives were too keen on the idea of being outside in the cold to watch an entire game - it was October after all - so Brent informed me that he was going to the game with his friends by himself by sneakily first telling me, "Hey, guess what you get to do?! Spend more time with your family!"

This is where I gave him the now-we're-married-so-there-are-no-more-unilateral-decisions-especially-when-it-concerns-both-of-us speech. But I was still upset because I actually do love going to live football games.

So I was stuck with a when-life-gives-you-lemons-then-make-lemonade sort of problem. And I kicked ass at it.

Since I now had several hours to fill that I didn't have before -and that I never have when I go home - I booked an hour-long massage for myself at my favorite Toledo-area salon and asked my sister - who's in the middle of her cosmetology school program - if she had any openings for me.

So while my husband and his two friends stood in the cold and shared a case of beer and a bag of Fritos they were given from a nearby tailgating party that actually THOUGHT to bring food to a tailgating party, I was lying on a soft, heated table getting an amazing full-body massage followed by a pedicure and fancy hair updo, courtesy of my sister, while visiting her at her work with my mom.

Then I drove in my toasty warm (borrowed) car up to Ann Arbor to meet up with the sore guys - who had been standing for tailgating and the entire game - and the wives at a nice restaurant/bar for dinner, where us girls listened to our husbands complain about the cold and the standing, etc.

Afterward, I drove my exhausted husband home and marveled at just how great that lemonade tasted.