Date Night
September 19, 2008 | Family: Nurturing Family
It’s just an ordinary Friday. Same ‘ole, same ‘ole. Christian Writers Guild assignments to edit. A chapter to write. Maybe, just maybe I’ll get the house straightend. A walk in the morning. A bowl of cereal minus milk, and no thoughts to lunch yet.
But it’s also Date Night. Which makes this a special day.
What we will do? Rent a movie? I want to see Baby Mama with Tina Fey. Sometimes a night at home is just what we need to catch up and talk about our week, our goals, our kiddos, or just about us.
Or maybe we’ll go out and try a new restaurant, or take a hike up Sparrow Hawk trail, or walk along the river.
It’s not what we do, but the fact that we want to spend time together. It’s a day we set aside a long time ago when life was hectic with three kids, and their activities, and shift work for him and a commute for me.
We’re not always faithful to the date night. Sometimes things get in the way, so we have to change the date or move it to the next week. With Richard in his Masters program full-time and working full-time, and he’s a youth staff volunteer and involved with the board at church, he’s a busy man. I’m my own boss, and I’m not afraid to work hard toward deadlines, but not afraid to say, “okay girl, you need a nap”, or “sure, take the afternoon off!”. I love my boss. : ) She isn’t a pushover, but she understands the joy of a nap when you need one.
Date night sounds corny, even as I write it. I can see some stuck-up marital adviser talking about how her marriage is perfect, and how it all stems from her “date night”. But our marriage isn’t perfect. And life does get in the way, and date night means that for this day I’ll think about the fact that Richard and I are going to have fun, and talk, and just hang out with each other–ignoring cell phones, homework, deadlines, mowing the lawn, picking up the house, paying bills, studying, the computer (!), and any other distraction.
Does it work? For us, it does. It’s kept alive the thought that he’s more than the father of my children or the guy who fixes the car when it needs it. He’s Richard, the guy I fell in love with at NEO A&M college nearly 30 years ago (Lord, I’m old!) and I’m Suzie, the girl who hung out the car window and whistled at him, the girl who loved nothing more than sitting for hours talking, who loved his lips (still do — sorry kids, if you are reading this, but it is what it is), and who counted the mile markers between Tulsa and Miami, anxious to see him.
So, it’s time to get to work, but at the end of the day I get to hang out with a really cool guy. Fun!
RSS feed for comments on this post.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://www.tsuzanneeller.com/2008/09/19/date-night/trackback/
How sweet! Friday is usually our date night, too.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:07 pmHow very cool. Date nights rock. And Richard’s in the master’s program now? How awesome is that? How’s his job going?
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:10 pmI loved this post. I think it is great you’re still in love.
Communication is definitely key.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 pm