Create a Date

Last night my husband and I did something crazy.

Something adventurous.

Something we haven't done in years.

We had a date at our own kitchen table.

It has been a crazy busy work week for my husband. Like, super intense and stressful. I get anxiety just looking at him. So he needed a break. And I needed to be with him, because I miss him. Because he's sweet and funny and handsome. I pretty much love him.

 So we were gonna go on a date night, but instead we decided to use the money we would have spent on a babysitter and dinner/movie and use it to go to the outlet malls to find some shoes that fit our sweet little girl's feet. (By the way, baby shoes are ridiculously expensive. Even at the outlet malls...even on sale.... especially for something this kid is going to wear for 3 months max. Ugh.) Also, each of us bought a new pair of jeans because it was buy one get one 50% off. And you just can't pass that up. HALF PRICE JEANS ARE A BLESSING. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU FIND A CUT THAT US SHORT PEOPLE DON'T HAVE TO GET HEMMED. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M STILL TYPING IN ALL CAPS.

Anyways, by the time we finished shopping, we were maxed out of our date night budget and Ellie was maxed out of her good mood (homegirl was DONE), so we headed home. We fed Ellie dinner, we bathed her, picked up the toys, cooked ourselves whatever we could find in the freezer/pantry (steaks and kraft macaroni and cheese, for the win!).... and then after Ellie Paige went to bed, the 2 of us sat at our kitchen table and had a date.

A look-into-each-other's-eyes-and-have-a-REAL-CONVERSATION kind of date.

We talked about work. We talked about goals for 2014. We talked about motivations and struggles. We talked about Ellie. We talked about finances. We talked about how we're thankful for one another. We talked about some logistical/scheduling things for the next few weeks. We talked about things we need from each other and things that we could do better as a couple. There were no phones allowed and we were absolutely focused on one another.

Y'all. It was GOOD. FOR. MY. SOUL.

We didn't fight. We just had a real discussion and I feel like we woke up as totally different people today.

It's so easy for us to eat dinner side by side on the couch because we are ready to veg out at the end of our days. He's been working and on the phone all day long, so he's ready to just sit and be quiet. And I've been dealing with a toddler all day so I'm ready to just lay down in the fetal position and rock back and forth while eating mass amounts of carbohydrates. So it's understandable that at the end of the work day we would rather just stare blankly into space. But we decided last night to make a point to sit down and TALK at least once a week. We can't wait for a proper date night to make it happen.... because sometimes that just doesn't happen for awhile. There's scheduling conflicts and Ellie has a cold and did you know babysitters are expensive?! Besides, we're finally realizing that we don't have to go OUT to dinner to sit down and have dinner with one another. (Yes, I'm sure that's pretty obvious but we're a bit slow, folks.) I'm sure other couples do this all the time, but it's a rarity for us and we are making it a point to make it a habit.

The point is, sometimes you just gotta start acting like grown ups.

Seven years into this whole marriage thing... and we're still figuring it out.