Date Night

Last week was kind of a crappy week. Nandi was sick again. It got passed on to me... again. And we continued to see resurfacing of behaviors in all three kids - again.

I think my parents must have sensed that we were about to lose it because completely and totally out of the blue they volunteered to watch the kids on Saturday night if we wanted to go out. But they offered at 4:00pm on Saturday and Sim didn't get off work until 6:00 and we live 75 miles from Dallas... so there wasn't much time to plan. But our little town does have a 4 screen movie theater and I love watching movies.

Actually more than anything.

Except for my family, of course. And chocolate.

So a movie date it was. A date. Did you catch that? A date! We haven't had one of those in um.... forever. Or it at least it feels like it. At least 2 1/2 years - perhaps three.

You lose count after awhile.

I was terribly excited. Abnormally perhaps. Like a 12 year old girl who just found out she won tickets to a Jonas Brothers concert. I was giddy. Over going to a movie. With my husband. And no kids. Sigh.

A date!

I talked Sim into seeing Twilight with me. Okay, I actually had to beg. He hasn't read the books yet. But I have - and loved, loved, loved the first one - so I really wanted to see the movie.

But when we got there, it was packed - we're talking fully loaded - with teenagers.

It'd been so long since we'd been out that I forgot that this is what people do on a Saturday night. They have dates. And from the looks of it, half the teenagers in our town were there.

And this is where the problem is... you see, the older I get the less I like people. I think it's inherited from my Grandad. I distinctly remember him being a little like this. And I am... how should I say this... turning into a grumpy old fart.

My little movie theater has spoiled me. I've only been a few times - and the last time was in the summer to see Mama Mia (alone - do you honestly think I could have convinced Sim to see that? BTW, the DVD comes out next week and I am SO getting it)... anyway, the few times I've been the theater has been pretty empty and I usually get a whole row to myself.

Isn't that awesome? It's like your own private showing - the whole theater to yourself and a few scragglers and it only cost 7 bucks and a bag of popcorn.

I actually got a bit anxious having to sit in a crowded theater with a bunch of scruffy teenagers. Claustrophobia, you know. So, Sim seized the opportunity to get out of seeing a movie about teenage vampires and informed me that 4 Christmases started 20 minutes later and why don't we see that instead. He assured me that it wouldn't be as crowded.

So we ran to the grocery store to kill time and came back... and guess what? The teenage crowd was still there. I asked the ticket guy what movie they were all waiting for and he said they weren't. This is just where they like to hang out. I think he must've seen the look of shock on my face because he laughed and said, "You must be from the city, right?"

What?? A city girl?? I had to laugh. I'm from a small town - and I fully (and painfully) remember what it was like to be a teenager. But we certainly didn't have a movie theater to hang out in and scare away all the adults who were having date nights for the first time in 3 years.

Instead, we had the blacktop - which, quite literally, was a black top parking lot - and the Dairy Queen. And my parents wouldn't let me hang out at either of those.

Which is quite funny when you think of it. They had no problem sending me to church camp, which is really just a big 'ol meat market... I mean, come on, 500 hundred hormonally fueled teenagers converged into one place with very little parental supervision and camp counselors just a few older than them? Puh-leeze.

But I couldn't go to Dairy Queen and eat a dilly bar. Go figure.

Anyway, the ticket counter guy leaned in and said, "If you think that's bad (referring to the loitering teens), you should check out all the 12 year olds outside having a smoke."

For Pete's sake. As if I weren't already an overprotective mother who is too afraid to send her kids to school. Now I have to keep them out of the movie theater too??

But, the important thing is that we had a date night. We saw a funny, funny movie. Ate popcorn and whoppers. And shared a water bottle. Awwwww.

And then we returned home to a screaming Eli who was having a meltdown because he wanted to go on our date night, too.

He totally killed my buzz.

But I think having those two hours just to ourselves should sustain me for a little while, I think. Everyone always tells you that you need to carve out time just for you and your spouse, but you don't really realize how true it is until you actually get a little date night of your own.

And I'm fully aware of how pathetic and lame I'm coming across. After all, it was just two hours - with most of that time being silent in a movie theater. But it was just the two of us - together. And that's the important bit. We were together. None of this "you go to the grocery store and I'll watch the kids" or "you go ahead and do Christmas shopping and I'll stay home with the kids" nonsense. No, it was the two of us together. Doing something together. And with all the craziness and chaos of our lives... it was just soooooo needed.

You know?

It quite literally put a little spring in my step.

So, a date night.

Yup, a date night.

Me and Sim. On a date. Very, very cool.