Date Night

Last Tuesday, Randy and I went on our first official “date” of 2014. For anyone who knows us, you know that spending time together, alone, is an experience that happens all too seldom in our relationship.  And, for anyone who talks to Randy, you’ll know that whenever he takes a day “off” for any reason, I have the habit of packing it completely full of things to do. What can I say? When I have him available, I want to make full use of his time! And so it was on Tuesday. The original plan was that we would go to Ann Arbor for dinner and the Adrian College vs. Team USA hockey game. That was the plan. 

The first ‘wrench’ was that our son’s school closed due to the cold temperatures. I was scheduled to teach a childbirth class in our home, which meant Randy felt obligated to take the oldest two out of the house for two hours. As far as I could tell, they had a great time returning bottles to Meijer (G broke one, making a huge mess!), wandering around Hobby Lobby (pretty much their favorite store), and having lunch at a Mexican restaurant in town for “Taco Tuesday”.

When they returned, it was a pretty quick turnaround for us to meet our realtor and check out a few potential homes. We really were on track for our date until we returned home and got another call from our realtor telling us that a house had just come on the market that she thought we should see right away.  So, back out we went, with all three kids (who fell asleep on the way), on another adventure. We got back home just after the time we told our babysitter to arrive so we could leave on our date.  After feeding K, and Randy playing a promised round of living room hockey with W, we left only 30 minutes behind schedule.

The roads were bad and Randy forgot to turn where he originally had planned, thus changing our entire route and restaurant choices.  In the end, though, we had a lovely dinner, only missed half a period of hockey, and enjoyed lots of great “adult” conversation.  During the game, we learned of an elderly retired pastor who needed a ride back to Adrian due to some car trouble, so we adjusted our plans once more to give him a ride, and heard lots of interesting stories of his life and family, and a shared love of hockey. 

Randy may have been more worn out after his “day off” than he normally is when he has to go to work, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  My way of infusing a little adventure and excitement into our lives (perhaps somewhat unintentionally) may be exhausting, but it sure is fun.