Be Jealous

Chick flick and colada/daiquiris. Sounds like a perfect girl’s night out. Or, it sounds like my husband loves his wife enough to see a movie that she wanted to see and not make fun of her for having a girly drink while he drank a Coke.

People? We had a date!

I love being a Mom. I love getting biiiiig huuuuugs from my little boy. I love clapping and dancing with him. I love just being with my son.

But I was married before I was a Mama. I am a wife first. Cameron is here because I love his Daddy.

I am sure I’m not the only Mama who has absolutely no chance to spend time alone with her husband. We’re short on money, we don’t know a babysitter, and there is never enough time. Once the baby is in bed at the end of the day, we are simply too tried or too busy to sit and talk about our days. We are too distracted to carve out a few minutes each day to enjoy one another.

So when a weekend home opens up an evening for Dan and I to go out, childfree, and spend time together, we take it. We had gift certificates (from Christmas) for the movies and for a family restaurant, so it made our date night decision fairly simple. It wasn’t very fancy or elaborate. But we sat beside each other holding hands for two hours. We sat across from each other and enjoyed food and conversation.

Date nights are so important for our marriage. It isn’t just a read-it-in-a-book-once, formulaic thing. It really is true for us. Without spending dedicated one-on-one time, our marriage starts to get stale. We love each other and we love our family, but we fall into habitual patterns that slowly start to eat away at our relationship. There is always a noticeable and positive difference when we take a few hours just to be with each other.

I wish I could make a promise to date my husband once a month. I’ve tried to set that goal before. But we always fail because it is just not realistic for our lives right now. But I do promise to make a date every chance we have. And I vow to make our time together important and positive, even if it is just while unloading the dishwasher together.

Friday night was awesome. I wish every couple the chance to spend time together. But until you get the chance to hang out together alone, I give you full permission to be jealous. And I promise to be jealous of you when you go on your date.

Mrs. and Mr.

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green and gorgeous