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Another eventful morning by way of no school. This time for ice. Ugh. Spring can’t come soon enough.
To be honest, I didn’t get much done today other than a puzzle, which started with both kids helping and ended with me sticking it out solo until it was finished, baking cookies (if we have any more snow days I am going to be 400 lbs) and a movie.
But the night was topped off with a much needed date night.
I’m not gonna lie, I used to hate that phrase. Date night sounded like just one more thing I was failing at. Like if I didn’t have a scheduled weekly date night with a corresponding bangin’ outfit (I guess that’s a thing?) then my marriage was doomed.
Even though we now participate in said lame phrase, we are making an effort to spend more time together in order to nurture our 13 year old marriage. It needs it.
Just like I need self-care above all else, if I plan to stay in a healthy relationship and this particular parenting partnership, I needed to pay some attention to the other guest at the slumber party. So, date night it is.
Here’s the thing (you know I love me some things) though, we didn’t really have a plan tonight. After we finished our mussels at our fave, Lousianne’s, we were sort of at a loss for what to do next. A few months ago we would have downed 2-3 drinks, spending an hour or two at the bar then pouring ourselves in to bed. Tonight we were basically done with our date in 35 minutes.
And, it was a struggle to come up with something that didn’t include eating any more or drinking. It was awkward and I somehow ended up taking the blame for what I thought should have been a fun-filled night. The suggestion of walking around Target or Costco was even thrown out there. I even went so far as to look up on Pinterest “date night ideas,” a few of which offered a coloring contest or making a music video. Um, no thanks.
But we talked about it a little and just decided it wasn’t lame. We had a lovely meal, laughed at each other’s jokes and genuinely enjoyed the time, however short it was, together. (I did end up dragging him to Home Goods, but only for about 10 minutes.) We ended up visiting with his mom and her friend when we went to pick up the kids and will top off the night with a couple episodes of The Office.
The truth is, not every date night has to be epic. And since we make an effort to do this every couple of weeks at least, there will be more opportunities to do something more exciting.
When I’m rocking away, more wrinkly and more gray, I bet I won’t remember what we actually did on those dates, just that we had them.
