Last night, Tony and I went out for a date. Mom and Dad came down to spend Saturday night at our house so we could all get an early start and spend Sunday together going to church, brunch and the Trunk or Treat. They said “Hey, since we’re going to be here any way, we’ll stay with Elly so you all can enjoy a night out.” Woo HOO! I snapped up that offer like a Marlin on… well whatever bait is available. Marlin’s will eat anything. Hear me when I say – we haven’t been on a date for a long time, so no-one needs to ask me twice.
Surprisingly, two hours before our date, we had NO CLUE, what we were going to do. Dumbly, we realised – we haven’t been on a date for a long time. It’s not that we never set foot beyond our threshold sans kid. We sometimes do. It’s just usually a situation where we needed to go to a meeting or dinner where taking Elly would be too inconvenient or inappropriate, so we would seek a caretaker for Elly as need dictates. THIS situation was patently different in that we received a block of EMPTY, child-free time. A void. Inconceivable!
The last time that happened, I think, was before Eleanor was a twinkle.
I actually felt pretty dumb. What do people do on dates these days? When faced with rare opportunities, I think it is human nature to try to make the most of it. Therefore, I was mentally shooting for “spectacular”. But, let’s face it, I’m in no shape for hot air balloon rides or a jaunt to Paris. I’m 53 months pregnant! I’m hardly in shape to walk from the car to the curb, so go-carts and gondolas are right out.
If not spectacular, then let’s go with Classic: dinner and a movie. We went to a little Greek restaurant at the mall near the movie theater, then on to see “Michael Clayton.” The food was great, the movie was… hmm… hard to explain. I think I liked it, but I can’t really tell you what it’s about. You could call it a character study, or a story about a guy who spends all his timefixing problems made by other people rather than looking out for #1. It’s not a thriller, but it has aspects of one. It’s not an action pic, though stuff gets blowed up real good. The point is, it’s a movie that requires some discussion afterwards, so we went to a Jillian’s (an arcade / restaurant noisy fun kind of place) to sip a milkshake and chat. It was nice. We found a table in the billiards room near the shuffleboard tables and played a few rounds and shared a milkshake. It was the highlight of the date – full of whimsy.
We got home after 11! That’s way late for us, but we had a great time. Perhaps our dating muscles have atrophied a bit, but, it really didn’t matter. It all came back to us in the end.
