Date Night

When the kids were first born, my husband and I were determined to still make time for ourselves as a couple. But this seems to happen less and less as the children get older. Between working, taking care of the kids, keeping the house in some kind of order and overseeing whatever activity the kids are involved in during a particular week, we are simply exhausted by the time dusk hits. And though we both laugh and complain about it, it seems we are becoming the old boring couple we promised we would NEVER become. This weekend, though, we set plans in advance for a babysitter and made reservations for dinner, making it harder to cancel. And off my husband and I went for a much-needed date night. Delicious dinner and some stiff drinks awaited us. We had a great time and laughed a lot—mostly about the kids. Though we promised we wouldn't talk about them, we couldn't resist. Walking in at the wee hours of the night made us feel like a young couple again.

But unlike our pre-children couple-dom, my husband and I were rather rudely awoken by four small feet. Our throbbing brains registered that at 7am, my daughter was pulling at my arm. “Get up, Mommy. I hungry.” My son, on the other hand, needed to know the details of our previous night's excursion without him. “Hey guys, where did you go last night? What did you have for dinner? Did you have chicken nuggets or French fries?”

“No,” I informed him. “We most definitely did not. Nothing you would like— trust me.”

We stumbled out of bed, tired, cranky and pissed off that we stayed out so late. As I poured two very large cups of coffee, I said to my husband, “Well, it was fun while it lasted, old man.” Back to being an old boring couple— until next time.