Even after marriage, it took us awhile to realize how important it was to spend time by ourselves now and then. We had a baby before our first anniversary. Then another baby shortly after our second anniversary. That pattern continued for quiet some time. Ha!
When the kids were all tiny, it was hard to get out by ourselves. God blessed us with a sweet sitter for our first three (who later became our sister-in-law - how fun is that?) and then our amazing sweet sister/sitters who are without a doubt responsible for any sanity that I have left. I mean that.
And we could still have "at home" dates in those days. Put the kids all to bed, go pick up Chinese food (it helped that we lived near the Asian district) and enjoy a quiet evening together. That only lasted until our kids started staying up later (pre-teen years) and there wasn't time for dinner after they were in bed!
Then came the oh-so-glorious-day when our kids were old enough to (gasp) stay by themselves! I'm still celebrating! It's a wonderful stage of life when you have babysitters that are also your older children!
So for the last couple of years (especially during football season) the Coach and I HAVE had our date night's together. We catch up on the week, talk about what's coming up. Discuss issues with the kids (they ALL have issues, you know) and just enjoy being together.
It's invaluable time that we really need these days with teens, school, sports, toddlers, and very busy lives.
Except I'm pretty sure most casual dates don't usually end up like ours do. A trip to Wal-mart and then home to the eight kids. (smile)
We've more than made up for all of the dates we "missed" before we were married. And I guarantee we enjoy these date nights much more! I LOVE time with my Coach!
2 comments:
Sweetness. We've done a few of those after bedtime chinese meals too. Now - its late night coffee after the 9 :30 shift heads to bed. Yawn.
So glad for the date nights! I need to plan one for us.
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