How Date Night Evolves

I'm thinking back to when Joe and I first started dating.  Man, that was a long time ago.  When you first begin dating, it's all so new and beautiful.  You go to beautiful places, you spend time making yourself beautiful, you affectionately stare at your beautiful man.  I remember our first "big" date.  It was my birthday and Joe was taking me on a surprise adventure.  I love surprises.  I remember being so excited and nervous.  He told me to dress nice.  I went out and bought a new dress for the occasion.  I did my hair, painted my nails, shaved my legs, and even duck taped my boobs.  I hadn't realized my dress would not accommodate any of my bras.  My dear friend helped me tape my boobs into that dress.  We both went above and beyond for our date.  Joe took me to the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls.  We had an amazing dinner enjoying the breathtaking view of the Falls.  It was beautiful.

And then...comes....baby(ies).

Date nights would never be the same.  They weren't for us anyway.  They evolve into something not so glamorous.  When we had an infant at home we were usually exhausted on date night.  We'd go out to dinner and sleepily talk about the baby, of course.  I know I did not take as much care in getting ready as I did before baby.  I wonder if I even had makeup on or non-elastic pants for that matter.  I probably smelled like baby puke and maybe even had puke on me.  Poor Joe. 

We still did date night though.  We have to.  We need to.  We always will.  As our kids get older and all of them sleep through the night, we are still tired.  We continue to frequent the same restaurants.  What's annoying about this is every single time we are out to dinner without kids, they sit us next to the most obnoxious kid in the restaurant.  Nice.  Sometimes we go to the movies after.  I'm lucky to stay awake for the whole thing  We finish nearly every date with a trip to the grocery store for milk or something.  How romantic.  

Sure date night changes, but it's still beautiful.  It's a wonderful feeling to not have to worry about what to wear, if you have a zit on your face, or if you haven't shaved.  I am trying to be more sexy lately.  I mean, my poor husband didn't marry a frumpy girl.  Now that I have more rest I think it's only fair to spice things back up.  No more elastic pants, no more ponytail, lots more shaving.  He deserves it.  Date nights are a time to focus on us.  We rekindle the love.  We forget about stupid arguments and anything else on our minds and simply enjoy each other.  It's priceless, no matter how boring the date is.

As our survey showed, it seems most of us do the same things on date night.  You go to dinner, the movies, and grocery stores.  A couple of you have used date night for sex, you go girls.  But it seems the majority of us have fallen into a rut.  I'm not saying all this stuff is bad, but for me, I want more excitement.  Joe always plans an overnight or day date a few times a year.  I don't want to save the good stuff for a few times a year.  So, what can we do.  I'm going to try to think of more creative dates.  Since Joe is always the one planning the good stuff, I am going to try to plan some good stuff. 

Do you have any ideas or suggestions.  What awesome dates have you been on?  What do I need to try?  Let's have some banging date nights.  Nothing crazy like the movie "Date Night."  Don't even get me started on that one.  If you haven't seen "Date Night" though, rent it.  It's funny, if you're into that kind of humor.

Leave me your ideas, suggestions, best date stories, as a comment below.  Here's to Date Nights!

I'll close with a couple of funny pictures of Joe and I.  They are from my sister-in-laws wedding at the Botanical Gardens.  We both got all gussied up for the event.  Joe looked hot.  I have a crazed look in my eyes like I am going to jump him.  It's followed up with the famous Titanic pose.  Joe loved that.  Don't let his face fool you.  That was a fun date.  The last one was from my birthday.  We went to the Garden Place Hotel overnight.  Fun.