Date Night

Sitting around the table at a work meeting some of my single or newly married colleagues thought it would be sweet if I did a blog post focused on a date night. I chuckled in my head trying to recall our last date night. I know they imagined beautiful pictures of us cruising the countryside on vintage bicycles our front baskets brimming with blankets, wine and a picnic lunch or maybe a night in the big city dining at some swanky restaurant and taking in a show. Sure every once in a while we might go gang busters on our weekly date night but that’s not the norm.

I’m committed to ‘keeping it real’ and our date nights fall short of the idyllic date pictured in the media but that doesn’t mean we are short on love.

One of the downsides of a very active family is a very full calendar. Meetings, games, appointments, coaching, celebrations, practices…these are what fill my evenings. We’ve gotten creative though…it might not be a date night but rather stolen moments when we find the time and sometimes that might mean 5 kids are not too far away. Rather than carving out a whole evening once a week we just take some time sipping wine around the backyard fire as evening turns to night, it might be curled up on the couch telling each other snippets of our day, simple but wonderful.

What this has made me realize is that date night doesn’t have to be an extravagant event that requires a pocket full of cash and a whole lot of time. Date Night for us is simply spending time together, giving each other our undivided attention, sharing where we’ve been, where we’re heading, our highlights and low points, our hopes and dreams, our thoughts and views, encouraging one another and it reminds us of why we fell in love on the first place.

So our date nights might not be what movies are made of but our 17 years of marriage have been epic.

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