How We Date

This was supposed to be posted last week Wednesday but me and Blogger had some issues. Take it for what it's worth. If you're gonna wait until next Valentine's Day to go on a date, you might really need the dating books.

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I thought I'd share a couple dates Bill and I have had recently. We go in spurts so these have happened all within the last two weeks.

I finally got to have my Christmas present from Bill which was to go see the musical The Book of Mormon. It was at the Civic Center. He arranged it so that we went with some friends. So on Super Bowl Sunday, we headed out for supper and the 6:30 show. 

That's right. We skipped the Super Bowl. 

The people most disappointed about this turn of events? Our kids. Apparently last year's party at our place was such a hit that our kids and their friends have been anticipating this year's party all year long! We had no idea. It never occurred to Bill when he booked the tickets that this would be the same day as the game.

We were going to try out a new restaurant that neither of us couples had tried before but when we pulled up to the front door, a sign taped to it informed us that they were closed because of the game. What?! Well, we'll just take our business next door. Guess what? Not many people actually eat out during the game so we got a table right away. And also guess what? If it's not that busy in the restaurant and your waiter forgets to bring you steak sauce, you might get free dessert. Okay, that seemed a little extreme for such a small thing but if you insist...

What can I say about my choice of musical? Um...

Well, it's written very smartly. It is humorous but there are many parts and layers and it washes over you in big drowning waves and you might spend the next day or so picking it apart. It is irreverent. I can't say I recommend it without caution because it takes irreverent and pushes it over the edge in a big huge cannon-ball type shot. I won't list the subject matters that arise here because I like to keep things appropriate for most ages and those aren't appropriate. So, yes, there was an age recommendation for this show. It has fantastic characters. Savvy music. The traveling company we saw was excellent. Their orchestra- outstanding. 

I'm super happy I got to see it though I'm not sure what my friends thought of it or think of me now for being so enthusiastic to go see it. 

That was date #1. Number two was an in-house date. Sort of. Can you call a Friday night where two of the three kids are still home and one has a friend over and you make give your son's friend a bite of kale to try and then later you give your husband a haircut before settling on the couch while the boys play darts in the background to watch one of your favorite movies that the boys declare moves awfully slow and you accidentally fall asleep towards the end of a date? If so, then that's date #2.

Our most recent date was a combination of the first two dates, now that I think about it. Haha! It was after Audrey's band concert, after the kids were tucked in bed and after we were starting to wrap up things for the night. Bill suggested we run into town and go to a restaurant that has an appetizer we like. I wanted to taste them again before attempting to make them later this week and this seemed like a good of a time as any to do it. It's 9:30 pm. We hop in the van where I announce we need to fill up. (It's a nice romantic touch to the evening.) We dive into conversation during the drive in and eventually find ourselves at the building where our beloved appetizers were housed except... it's closed. Closed as in no longer is open for business. (Date #1, except they were going to be open the next day.) What do a sharp on-the-town couple do? Head back home, of course, where we already have beer and can finish munching on an appetizer I had made just before we left, that's what. (Date #2- at home) That's date number three.

I call all of these dates even though only the first one involved getting dressed neatly and leaving the house and children for an extended time. It's not the sort of thing you will read about in One Hundred Dates with your Spouse book or whatever other dating book you want to name. (I made that one up, by the way.) In fact, I'm more likely to get worked up into a tizzy about some minutia detail before we go out that I'll spend a good chunk of it fuming and the rest we will spend hashing out exactly what my problem is. Those date idea books aren't bad, but they do set up expectations of bigger is better even if they don't intend to. (I can only recall one date from a book and it involved a series of clues and gifts and ended with plane tickets to somewhere tropical. What do you think I'm expecting eventually, someday? Everything else seems to pale in comparison to that one future monumental date.) Bill wants to spend time with me, be with me, talk with me, have fun with me, share an experience with me. It means setting time aside just for us two.

Oh, we've also avoided major holidays that hype up the date thing, i.e. Valentine's Day. I've got expectation issues and Bill's got free will issues. This year we will be spending our Feb. 14 at the dentist and basketball practices. *swoon* He did surprise me with flowers in the morning- I like flowers. I loved looking at them in my five minutes home here and there, shoved in a make-shift vase of a cleaned out spaghetti jar. *I love that man!*  

Tell me about one of your recent dates.