Many years ago, a very good friend of mine said that she and her husband have weekly dates and she recommended that all married couples do the same. I scoffed at the idea, at at the time, since all of our children were very young and I didn't like to ask for sitters. Now that we have enjoyed nearly two years of dating on a regular basis, I have to agree that it is the lifeblood of our friendship.
Dating means leaving the house and going somewhere else. It's funny how we can forget how to do such a basic thing. It amazes me how much younger we both act and feel when we are in our vehicle alone!!! At that point it doesn't matter where we go as long as we can both focus on being together.
Tonight we enjoyed a Thin Mint Blizzard at Dairy Queen. We ate it in the van. Two spoons. One cup. We watched the teens come in and out and talked about them. We listened to pop music from the 60's, 70's and 80's and remembered our own highschool days. If only we'd known back then how it would all turn out...God is so good!
Dating helps us to remember a time when we could think of nothing but one another. It's like looking at a wedding album. It conjurs up loving memories. Those memories seem like strangers during the difficult days of marriage. It's so good to go back.
We are the same two people who thought they were in love 22 years ago. It helps us to remind ourselves of how things were back then. We spend alot of time and energy on the serious parts of maintaining our marriage and family life. Now it makes sense to me that we also should balance those efforts with nostalgia, reminiscing and fun! And we can do it with only four dollars and one hour away from home!
