Still Dating After All These Years

Another Saturday night and Dave and I had a date night. Our regular Marriage Encounter group meeting didn't pan out this month, and we had the sitter lined up, so we took advantage of that. We had a lot of angst-laden discussion about whether to see a movie and if so, which one, and if so, where. Our sitter was coming from his soccer banquet and we knew we'd be cutting it close to make a movie. We toyed with seeing a new one, "Breach," but didn't want fight the potential first-weekend crowds. The other movies allowed enough time, but I suggested that I really wanted to just sit across from my man, enjoy a good steak and have a comfortable chat.

There's a nice new restaurant in our neighborhood [less than half a mile away] and we both had the filet mignon. We had a great server, but long waits between courses. We gravitated toward political discussion. We agree on many things. In fact, our marriage bed contains two pretty stalwart conservatives--Dave always has been this way and I credit him for loving me in my radical feminist days. But now, I encompass the socially conservative part of the party and he is the libertarian-leaning fiscal conservative. I keep him up on what Obama said or what Hillary did and he keeps me up on Howard Stern.

Leaving the restaurant, we ran into a woman who used to be on my Mary Kay team several years ago, who is also a physical therapist. With Annie's experience lately, I excitedly told her how happy we were with physical therapy for us. She knows Annie's prosthetician and told us he's the absolute best in the area. We agreed, but we already knew that.

We topped off our lovely date with a leisurely stroll in the grocery store. I really like shopping with Dave once in a while because then I know what he wants me to get. He does the evening shift and is always trying to find a meal for the children that's a hit with all three. Breakfast and lunch are comparatively easy and it's perfectly permissible to have the same thing over and over again. He's striving for a magic 7 meals that are sure-fire hits. Then he can just rotate them each week like his mother did for him as a boy.

I love dating my husband. We call it that and the children are pretty happy to send us off with a "have a nice date, Mama and Daddy!" They know they'll have fun with their sitter and we are all much better for it.