Date Night

One of my new years resolutions was to plan a date for my husband once a month. You can read about all of my resolutions here but this specific resolution of dating my spouse after years of marriage is so easy to overlook during the baby years. In the past I worked so hard at putting in effort, at being purposeful in spending time with my husband. Perhaps I am that way because I only get to spend alone time with him a few nights a week due to work and The Brothers schedules. It was the same way when I was in graduate school and Brian and I only saw each other on weekends or when the other was sleeping. We have always battled opposite schedules and been very purposeful in making time for each other but with the arrival of little ones it has somewhat slipped. 

This past year, on Monday nights, we did movie night.Every other week one of us picked a movie and the other planned a snack. I ate a lot of popcorn and watched a lot of war and history movies but I spent time with Brian. We could be still. We relaxed and snuggled under a blanket. For the past year we were physically tired from midnight wakings of a newborn so this movie night worked.

This year we both wanted a bit of a change. Movie night still happens every few weeks but we are sleeping through the night, the chores are more easily accomplished, and I found myself missing my husband intellectually. I was craving a conversation with a humerus, intelligent, and insightful adult because as a mom I spend a lot of my day singing Down By The Bay and teaching my babies how to brush their teeth or sound out letters. I love what I do but I missed my husband. This year it was time for a change so I made the resolution to plan a date that did not involve a movie each month.

This past week I planned my January date night and it was wonderful: popcorn, Prosecco, Scrabble. Back in college Brian purchased Scrabble for me one Sunday and made lunch. We sat in his apartment and ate and played and laughed. I don't' spell well but I still love the game because I used to play with my Grandma growing up. We got those wooden tiles out a lot the year we were engaged and it bonded me in an unexpected way to this man I was going to marry. We laughed at how much my words brought out the Scrabble Dictionary, we found we were both competitive but in a way that brought a healthy challenge and joy to the game, we took turns cooking for each other and we made time every couple Sundays to play a game and practice investing time in our relationship. We dated in the most simple and inexpensive way but little did we know, 9 years later, the practice of dating this way was going to bless us because we now have to little ones tucked in bed at night and in order to consistently date my husband I sometimes still look to a game of Scrabble on the couch. It bonds me to this handsome man I call my husband.