It's a Date

Ever since Pinterest came along, I’ve had quite a few “date night” ideas saved for days with spare time and nothing to fill it. Since those days never came, I decided a few months back that I needed to put some of those into practice whether there was actually spare time for them or not.  May was the busiest month Skip has had since starting Skip Erdman Events.  He shot a wedding every Saturday and two Fridays in the month.  I am not exaggerating when I say that he worked 70+ hour weeks for the entire month.  Between filming for himself, being second shooter for a colleague of his and working on several project deadlines, I saw him for 30 minutes on bad days and 90 minutes on good ones. 

Since he’s been off the road, I’ve gotten used to spending time with him, and well, I kinda like it.  The Summer Date Night Calendar idea was born out of my desire to make sure we were carving out at least a little regular time together and (of course)  my love for planning.  So, while Skip was burning the midnight oil at the office, I was taking notes from my Pinterest boards and crafting a three-month long calendar of dates.  Some of the Pinterest ideas didn’t make the cut: learning a new dance via YouTube tutorial videos, and all “cooking together” ideas were no-gos.  Others made the calendar but in the last month haven’t come to fruition: watching a new TV series together. (Although, I have started watching The Good Wife from season one by myself on the nights he is still working late, and it is SO GOOD!).  But, for the most part, the calendar has done its job and we’ve had the most fun on these dates.  Most of the dates have been home dates and have started after Layla was in bed.  Several dates had to be rescheduled, but almost all of them happened one way or another in the month of June. 

Our biggest date in June was a trip to Carowinds.  Neither of us had been in years, so we were really excited and talked about it for weeks before the day came.  We went to breakfast on the way and got there before the gate opened.  We knew we wanted to ride The Fury, so we headed there first thing and got to ride it three times before 11am.  We loved it!  The old, familiar roller coasters, on the other hand, were not as enjoyable, and by 2:30, we were more than ready to come home. Mom had Layla, so we weren’t planning on staying much longer anyway, but the ride formerly known as Top Gun did me in. We’d been home over an hour before I felt normal again.  We said more than once on our trek home that we are too old for Carowinds.  If you’re a ride enthusiast and would like to take our daughter in a few years, she’s gonna need some younger surrogate parents for that kind of nonsense.

Most of our other dates included desserts and/or drinks at home after Layla went to bed.  We sat outside and sipped wine and snacked on cheese and crackers one night. We spent another drinking milkshakes looking at the photos Becca had taken of Layla on our TV screen.  We played our favorite board game, Ticket to Ride, and made “massage bets” for the winner one Saturday night after an afternoon of errands and Starbucks.  All these nights have been great reminders that we don’t need reservations at a five star restaurant or a baby sitter to enjoy one another’s company.

Yummy wine and cheese plate (Aldi has the best cheese for cheese plates!)

Yes, that's a DOUBLE cookie skillet.  Don't judge.

Starbucks stop while running errands

I’ve always heard that once you have children, it is hard to put your spouse ahead of your babies, and I can testify now how true that is.  Having and losing Levi brought Skip and I closer together, so the last thing I wanted/want is for Layla to cause us to not focus on each other the way we should. Date nights remind us of why we got married in the first place.  And even though we’re not paddle boarding in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore or visiting museums in DC like we did when we were long distance dating and every date was an adventure, I like these pajama dates that start with singing Layla lullabies end with our own bedtime at 9:30PM even more. 

When we first started dating (over ten years ago), Skip moved to West Virginia to be a youth pastor.  On my second visit there, I took him a calendar of dates I thought had good visiting potential.  Before I left to come back to North Carolina, he broke up with me.  Apparently, he did not appreciate my initiative and felt like I was taking things too quickly!  I feigned nervousness this go ‘round and promised to be flexible if some of the dates didn’t work out.  Luckily, he’s come to appreciate my planning abilities and has been eager to take me on dates, even if he only has to take me to the living room.