Date Night

The words "Date Night" have changed a lot in the last few years. When Kirk and I first started dating, Date Night meant we would dress up several times a week, Kirk would pick me up outside my sorority house in his old white Bronco, and off we would go for a nice sit-down dinner, drinks and a movie, perhaps even an artsy event at the Lied Center. We could never keep our hands off of each other and held hands, made out, etc. the entire time.

After we got married, our date nights were about once a week, maybe twice, we would still get dressed up, but maybe not quite as fancy. Kirk would come home from work, pick me up (I always made him pick me up rather than meeting somewhere even though we were both coming from work because it felt more like a "real" date), and we would try to find fun things to do such as a festival down on Omaha's riverfront, dinner in the Old Market and usually ending the night with drinks at some fun bar/lounge and then back home for some "sexy time" ;) We always had intense and fun conversation and played silly games, like "Would you rather be blind or deaf and why?"

Today, our date nights happen about once a month and usually consist of me trying to make sure I at least take a shower (shaving legs and putting on make-up are an extra special treat!), Kirk coming home from work and both of us throwing on our most comfy "laying around" clothes, feeding Max and putting him to bed early, grilling something yummy with lots of delicious sides and of course some type of garlic bread, Kirk drinking grapefruit juice, me drinking milk, then if it's cold we watch a movie or if it's hot we put on bug-spray and sit by our fire pit talking. If it is truly a date night, we stay away from TV and computer. Usually I go to bed first. Sometimes we're not too exhausted to have some "sexy time". ;)

This isn't to say that we don't occasionally get dressed up and go out. We do that a couple times a year where it's just us and we actually have a "night on the town". But mostly it's laid back "us" time. I have to say while I reminisce about our past dating relationship compared to our married-with-children dating relationship, I wouldn't change a thing. Okay, maybe a few more nights out on the town would be nice, but for the most part, I love our laid back home dates. Sitting by the fire talking about Max for hours; what he did that day, what he'll probably do tomorrow, how our biggest fear is something happening to him and even pondering how we could ever love another child the way we love Max (even though we know we will and are so excited to experience it someday!) is so special, so magical and so bonding that I treasure every second.

We had one of these nights last Friday night and I'm still feeling all warm and fuzzy about it. This time, for the first time in probably a couple years, we had a few drinks, enough to get silly and feel extra touchy-feely with each other (are you about to throw up yet??). We ate a delicious dinner and just laughed, cried and talked about our future together. We decided we need to do that about once a week.

So this is our goal: Once a week we shut off all phones, computers and television, feed Max and put him to bed early (or at least on time!) and just enjoy each other and relax. I think it's vital to our marriage!

That's it for today!