Date Night (Sept 2014)

For the first time in 3 months, my husband and I went on "date night".  A friend of mine came to watch the kids - we normally trade off each month so we don't have to pay for a babysitter, but we skipped the summer months due to busy schedules.

I had forgotten how important date night is.  We get stressed with everyday "stuff" and we are so focused on the kids, work, housecleaning, hobbies, and other projects around the house that we tend to stop focusing on each other.  Don't get me wrong -  we love each other and WANT to spend time together - but at the end of the day all we really want to do is sit down and relax.  Lately, that translates into putting the kids to bed, showering, changing into our pj's and sitting next to each other on the couch and eating snacks until we fall asleep.

Sure we talk about exercising or playing a game, but we have been WAY too stressed and WAY too worn out from all the day's events. 

So when it was time to decide what we were going to do on date night, we were at a loss. 

First off, my friend who is watching the kids will not arrive until about 7:30pm. (We agreed to give each other time to put the kids to bed before babysitting.)  What is there to do starting at 8pm? 

Secondly, we are already exhausted at this time - the time we normally settle down to do nothing for the night.  What could we possibly have energy for? 

I knew going to the movies was a terrible idea...if we were just going to sit next to each other and watch the big screen, and eat snacks and not have a conversation, what is the point?  That's what we do every night.

Well, we left the house an headed to the closest "big city" and decided to go to the local indoor amusement park and arcade entertainment center.  It's one of these places where you buy tokens, play games, get tickets, and turn them in for cheap prizes. We occasionally go there on date nights in attempt to have fun.  Usually we have a friendly competition in the skee ball area.

We actually did have a good time, and laughing and smiling really brought us to life.  We worked together to win as many tickets as we could, combined them with tickets we won in previous visits ( the guy at the counter was laughing at as us we turned them in, some from 2006!) and decided on prizes to take home to the kids, although as stingy as I am, they will probably be held and turned into Christmas gifts.  All-in-all a fun time.  

We left there and went Uno's for a few drinks and since I had a $10 off coupon, some small appetizers.  We got to talking and discussed things we liked about our life and things we want to change, and future goals (short and long-term).  So some of the conversation was about the kids - so what?  The important part was that we remembered that it was OUR life...not His life and Her life, but OUR life together. OUR home, OUR family, OUR future - and we felt reconnected.  The romance sparked from there, and date night served it's purpose...to get us out of the house, to focus on each other, and rekindle our relationship. 

**At some point I mentioned to him that I wished I was more attractive for him.  His response?  "We are two regular-looking people who love each other...what could be better than that?"  LOVE this man!