Dating

Somehow dating our children is easier than dating each other. Not that we don't love one another, but faced with the idea of a date night our plans seem to be limited to the traditional dinner, drinks, maybe a movie, or the occasional special event.

Planning a date with the kids is easier. Simple things rank high on the list of possibilities and the list of possibilities is much larger. Going swimming together at the gym, out for cupcakes, bike riding at the park, riding the merry-go-round at the zoo, doing an art project together, or going to get red and pink sprinkled donuts at Krispy Kreme. There are so many fun things to do with the kids right now. Everything is fun for them (except maybe shopping) and they are easy to please.

Why is it so much harder to please each other? Why do we demand more from our dates together than we do with the dates we have with our children? Friday night we have a chance to spend three hours together...alone. I don't have any idea of what we could do outside of the usual dinner sans chicken nuggets. Maybe that is enough but I can't shake the feeling that we should do more or be more or achieve more in those precious hours.

Last night Clare and I went swimming together at the gym. It was easy. We changed when we got there, swam in the indoor pool for 40 minutes, changed back into our clothes and went to dinner together. She had a blast and I enjoyed just spending those two hours with her. I'm looking forward to our next date together and I hope I can learn to apply the 'dating children' principles to 'dating Mario' soon. In the meantime I'm open to date suggestions!