A Year of Dates: #1 - Temple Work
I realized after I made my goal to have a date night with Burke every week this year that I needed to get creative. You see, once Burke gets home from work, we basically do everything together. We cook, we go on family runs or do workout videos from youtube, we play with Daphne, we watch political debates, we play tennis, we visit neighbors/friends, we read books together, we watch "The Biggest Loser" or a redbox, we work on projects, we play the guitar and sing together, we clean the car, etc. I can't get enough of this man of mine and I jealously guard all of our free time together.
I think a lot of people designate a specific night each week for a "date night" so that amid the chaos of kids, work, callings and separate hobbies they don't drift away from each other and wake up one day as strangers with nothing in common but the kids, the house and the car. I'm really not afraid of that happening because we love to spend so much time together and have so many common interests. However, I still think date night is important, because it allows us opportunities to plan activities we normally wouldn't do or think of an activity the other person might like to do instead. I have decided rather than just saying, "Okay, we played tennis last night, so that can count as date night - check that off the list!" I am going to shoot for 52 unique date nights this year - no repeats! This will probably start out easy, like our date this weekend where we went to St. George and did sealings at the temple, followed by an outing with the Gonzalezes (I never know how to spell their name in plural form referring to the whole family - as an English teacher, I probably shouldn't admit that) to get frozen yogurt at Krave. A successful date, a good 'ol time, but now we can't count our temple trips as date night for the rest of the year! I also usually initiate these outings, so I am also going to cajole Burke into planning every other week. If you have any suggestions of fun (*inexpensive*) dates you have gone on, send them my way as I'm sure I'm going to need a lot of ideas this year!
I think a lot of people designate a specific night each week for a "date night" so that amid the chaos of kids, work, callings and separate hobbies they don't drift away from each other and wake up one day as strangers with nothing in common but the kids, the house and the car. I'm really not afraid of that happening because we love to spend so much time together and have so many common interests. However, I still think date night is important, because it allows us opportunities to plan activities we normally wouldn't do or think of an activity the other person might like to do instead. I have decided rather than just saying, "Okay, we played tennis last night, so that can count as date night - check that off the list!" I am going to shoot for 52 unique date nights this year - no repeats! This will probably start out easy, like our date this weekend where we went to St. George and did sealings at the temple, followed by an outing with the Gonzalezes (I never know how to spell their name in plural form referring to the whole family - as an English teacher, I probably shouldn't admit that) to get frozen yogurt at Krave. A successful date, a good 'ol time, but now we can't count our temple trips as date night for the rest of the year! I also usually initiate these outings, so I am also going to cajole Burke into planning every other week. If you have any suggestions of fun (*inexpensive*) dates you have gone on, send them my way as I'm sure I'm going to need a lot of ideas this year!
Comments
1) Childhood favorite's date: Prepare your favorite meal/snack to eat as a child, find your favorite movie, and spread out in front of the TV on the picnic. Once you're done eating, finger-paint or color with chalk.
2) Pretend to be tourists in your own town. Go somewhere new.
3) Spend one night preforming random acts of kindness for strangers. Help the elder load their car with groceries. Tape quarters to a vending machine with a happy note. Etc. and etc. Fun and you feel good before/during/after!
4) Get together with some friends and have a progressive dinner party. At one house have appetizers, another the main entree, and the last dessert.
5) Go to the library and find new books to read together.
6) Learn something new together. Dance steps. Oil painting.
7) Go to the animal shelter and play with the dogs. They need some TLC from happy folks.
8) Write letters to each other for your fifth, tenth, fifteenth, etc. anniversaries. Save them, and open them up once you reach the milestone!
9) Find a recipe from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French cooking, and whip it up!
10)Rent a classic film that neither of you have seen before, make some white-chocolate popcorn and veg out.
And...go!