Why date night is crucial

It’s really easy to get caught up in the day to day. It’s easy to get consumed with the kids, the job, the mortgage and bills. It’s easy to forget that the other adult you’re living with is someone that you have a lot in common with and love deeply.

This is why date night is crucial in a marriage.

Dear Husband and I have been making a concerted effort to watch our spending. Because of that we have not been out in a while. Dinner plus a baby sitter can get pretty pricey. The other day our 6 year old was spending the night with the grandparents and that left just Dear Husband, me and the baby around the dinner table. We realized that we could speak candidly about many topics and didn’t need to censor ourselves as we normally do when Addison is there and we could talk about stuff we haven’t talked about in a while. The dinner conversation wasn’t dominated by long expositions of the in’s and out’s of Star Wars Legos and Mario Kart. It hit us both that we miss talking to each other and needed some time away from the kids.

Bank account be damned, we made a date for the following Friday. Thankfully my dearest sister-in-law volunteered to babysit. Knowing that I’m not racking up the hours for a paid babysitter makes all the difference in the world. Not that we would take advantage of her and stay out until midnight but it’s so nice to not watch the clock and watch another $10 be added to my mental calculation.

We had a double date with another couple who we always love spending time with (if your going to spend your precious kid-free time with another couple make sure it’s with people that you really, really like). Oh, how wonderful to sit back and enjoy a long dinner that does not in any way involve chicken tenders and bits of food being tossed onto the floor. I touched up my make-up and actually put on perfume (the perfume was mostly because I took Harry for a walk in the late afternoon and needed to cover up that “playground” smell). We talked, laughed, Dear Husband drank wine, we ordered dessert…it was wonderful. We didn’t get home until after 9:00 *gasp*

If at all possible make a date with your sweetheart this week. Try and talk about something other than the kids for 10 minutes. Here’s a topic: remember the first time you kissed? Discuss.

P.S. The picture has nothing to do with our date night on Friday. It’s just one of my favorite pictures of the two of us.