Thoughts on Date Night

This is certain to be an over-share, but one of the things we put a lot of focus on in our marriage are Date Nights. With no need for a babysitter every night is date night! Right? Wrong. We can be in the same room at the same time but not exactly on the same planet. My favorite scenario is when we're snuggling on the couch seemingly spending quality time together but simultaneously both of us are thumbing away on our phones pretending not to work with the TV singing in the background and you know what? I've never really noticed how boney your elbow has become, please remove it from my ribcage before I remove it from your body.
We're getting better at scheduling "us" time but it does take a valiant effort. Courtesy of a smart husband, I have tickets to the theatre pinned to my refrigerator right this very minute. He gets me - I need good stuff to look forward to. But it doesn't always require reservations or cost money. Recently a perfect date night involved finding $7 pajamas at Old Navy and stopping for a frozen yogurt on the way home. I've found that by simply calling it 'date night' we become unintentionally tuned in to each others needs. He's less likely to numb out while I spend an obscene amount of time deliberating over what is sure to be the wrong size. I'm less likely to publicly object with a gagging reflex when he tops his yogurt with disgusting flavor combination's. WINNING!

It was cold and snowy all weekend and I instinctively knew that we'd burrow in at home Friday night, fish something to eat from the recesses of the freezer, and I'd be dead to the world in my $7 pajamas before 9 pm. So earlier that day I emailed BD an official invitation to Date Night with instructions that we each needed to prepare 10 interview questions for each other. I could tell he was skeptical, but he obliged. BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT, YOU SEE. Sometime that evening we unplugged from everything and commenced the interviews. For added drama, I placed a pencil behind my ear. It felt great to have each others' full attention and we laughed and even cried through some of the questions. Ok, I cried. There. The questions spurred more questions, which then became the topics of Saturday morning brunch over mile high biscuits. My point is, I feel really lucky to share my life with someone.