I'd rather not go than ask for a favour

[itsallbowlsbaby]

I never realised this was such a sticking point for me but I absolutely hate, hate, hate asking for favours. DH has booked us tickets to a show for our anniversary this Friday but our regular babysitter has fallen through. No family nearby. DH doesn't have many 'friend friends" we can ask so it's fallen to me, owner of all the Mum friends and in touch with the school Mums. I do want to go, but I just cannot bring myself to ask someone to help. Is this normal?

40 years ago, I was in a baby sitting circle, run by the local women's register, we got credits per hour for baby sitting, with double for sitting after 11pm and the person with the least number of credits was asked first. One person kept records, and we took turns to do that for 6 months at a time. It worked really well. There were a few single parents who found it more difficult, but we found solutions and all helped each other as much as possible. It meant we could have evenings out without feeling beholden to anyone.