hot date night?

Last week my girlfriend wrote a post about date night. It was about how significant date night use to be back in the day and how after marriage and children it tends to be pushed to the background. She misses date night. I related perfectly, of course. I had two main thoughts when I read her post. First, I was trying to remember the last date night Kevin and I had. We have had a lot of dates. We dated back in the day. I remember spending hours curling my hair and doing my nails and makeup and watching for him out the window. Secondly, I was thinking it would probably be awhile before he would be asking me to go out again. I mean, what would be the reason? February - Valentine's Day. August - Anniversary. Sometimes we make a day of Christmas shopping without the kids and that requires eating out alone together. But if I do not plan the event ahead of time it is probably not going to happen. Or so I thought.

I like it when he pleasantly surprises me. Saturday I got the invitation. "Do you want to ride to Columbia with me?" I thought that sounded like a date. When we left the house wearing perfume and cologne I thought it smelled like a date. When we dropped the kids off with Grandma I decided it looked like a date! Hot date night was ON! A calm and leisurely dinner with steak and salad and adult conversation is a hot date, right? It was so much better than the dates we had when we were teenagers. I am far from a size 3, and he does not give me my invitation with enough notice to spend hours on my appearance (not that I would now if he did). Even so, our relationship has grown into something I never could have imagined back then. I could never have imagined how love can evolve with a person when you bring children into this world together. I look across the table at him now and I don't dream about what our life could be like if we ended up together. I already know. Our daughter has his nose and mouth. Our son shares his love for fishing in the river. He would have been satisfied to stop at two kids but agreed to have another one because he knew it would make me happy. He is a good provider who does not make a habit out of missing work. And the patience he displays when teaching things to the kids by far surpasses any expectations I may have had. So while date nights are lower on quantity than they use to be, I believe they make up for it when it comes to quality.

Keeping that in mind, I still had some lingering questions I asked myself during the ride home. Is it still a hot date if you take a minivan? Is it still a hot date if it includes significant time in Bass Pro before dinner? Is it still a hot date if the state of your pregnancy requires that you must go pee upon arriving in Columbia, arriving at the restaurant, and again before leaving the restaurant? Is it still a hot date if he decides to practice with his new duck call on part of the drive home and you put your ear buds in to drown out the sound with your favorite tunes? I guess I still think it is and that is all that matters.