Date Night

Friday night was a big night for Suzanne and I, as we had the opportunity to do something that we don't do often enough. We went on a date. A real date. One that didn't include a stop at Wal-Mart or McDonald's. As most of you know by now, we've recently moved back to the area after spending the past four years in Wetumpka, Alabama. Our children have never had the experience of living so close to their grandparents, but they love it. (and I suspect that the grandparents don't mind it too bad, either) Friday night, the kids had already made plans to spend the night with my parents, and that left Suzanne and I the open door to do something together.

Suzanne has been craving Mexican food throughout the entirety of this pregnancy (Juan Pablo Landry? It could work) and so we made the decision to go eat at the Hacienda San Miguel on Schillinger Road. We had a good time and the food was excellent, but the real shocker came when Suzanne mentioned a particular movie that is out now and that she had heard that it was really funny. I suggested that we go catch it at the Wynnsong across the street and she agreed. None of this may sound out of the ordinary to most of you reading this, but try to understand that we're not big movie-goers. We've been married for nearly six years, and this was our third movie. Prior to Friday night, the last movie that the two of us saw on a date in a theater was The Notebook. Thankfully, this time around we found something that I could enjoy as well. We saw Grown Ups and it was pretty good. More importantly, I had a lot of fun spending the evening with my wife.

Prior to getting married, I heard a lot of good advice from wise people who told us to make each other a priority. They gave us advice about continuing to get to know each other, about spending time together, and growing in our relationship. At the time, all of those things sounded really easy, but I realize now how hard they really are to do. So, without further ado, here are some of my observations from our date.

1) Hacienda San Miguel has some of the most incredible guacamole that I've ever eaten in my entire life. I could have made a meal out of chips and guacamole. I do know what guacamole looks like. I still like it.

2) The cost of dating has increased a bit since I was a senior in high school. I didn't realize how out of touch I was on the cost of movies until I led a Bible study a while back and mentioned the high cost of going to the movies. The moment looked kind of like this:

Me: You know, it's crazy. You go to the movies and you spend your $5.75 to get in...
Audience: *sitting in stunned silence*
Me: What? Is it six bucks now?
Audience Member: What kind of movie theater do you go to?

3) Adam Sandler, you'll always be Billy Madison to me. The movie was good, but this whole responsible adult thing that you've been shooting for since 2003 makes me a little queasy. Just be yourself, buddy.

4) Movie projection technology has increased significantly over the past 6 years. I had no idea how clear the picture was going to be. Consider me impressed.

5) Movie projection and sound may have changed, but movie theaters have not. Parents, is it really a good idea to drop your 13 year-old daughter off at the movie theater and tell her to call you when the movie is over? No, seriously, I want to know. I've officially crossed over into old-people world on this one. Thankfully, they were all there to see the new Twilight movie. All of their mothers had already seen it at the midnight premiere, I suppose.

6) Dating may be hard work, but it's definitely worth it. Suzanne and I spend time together, it's just that the time we spend is usually either spent with our kids (certainly not a bad thing) or trying to recover from whatever we've been busy doing all week. If you are making plans to date your spouse, find something to do. I've read articles that include these long lists of questions that you should ask each other, but I'm not there. Spend time together doing something.

7) I'm a blessed husband. When God brought Suzanne into my life, He gave me far more than I deserve. For those of you who've seen us together, you know that she's the beautiful petite brunette and I'm the guy with the beard. It still amazes me that she loves me, and I couldn't have asked God for a better helpmate. Suzanne, I love you. So, if it's ok with you, I was thinking, maybe, y'know, if you wanted to, we could go out again this weekend... I mean, if that's ok with you. Because if you don't want to, I'd be totally cool with that.