Taking Time for your Special Someone: Date Night

I saw my husband for 45 minutes yesterday. And by "saw," I mean our time at home overlapped for 45 minutes--but he was outside working on car parts and I was inside working on my newest venture, becoming a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. Aside from dinner with my parents earlier this week, we won't get any quality time together for the next five days or so. Last night, he worked late and I worked a soccer game. Tonight, he has a hockey game. Tomorrow, I work another soccer game. Friday, I volunteer at the animal shelter. Saturday, he has to work.

If you're at all like us (read: really busy)--and if you're interested in this blog, you probably are--then you know how it goes. Finding time to spend together can be challenging between work obligations, family obligations, community obligations, and--you know--getting to sleep every now and then.

That's why my husband and I instituted Date Night.

Date Night [deyt nahyt] noun
1.  a designated block of time that occurs at regular intervals, preferably on a weekend, during which spouses devote their undivided attention to each other and treat the event as if it were a rendezvous from their earliest affections.

You can design your Date Night (or Date Day) in any way that works for you and your spouse. As long as you are carving out time for each other, you're doing good for your relationship.

My husband and I have created out Date Night tradition in the following way, and it has worked really well for us:

1. We have a Date Night once a month. For busy couples, once a month can be more manageable and achievable than, say, once a week. (It's also less expensive.)

2. Date Night (or Day) must include getting out, whether to a movie, for a hike, to dinner, to lunch, for a bike ride, whatever. You have to leave the house. Together.

3. There is to be no negative conversation or complaining on Date Night. You wouldn't have dragged your spouse down with negativity and scared him or her away on your first couple of dates, so don't do it on Date Night, either. Remember back to your earliest dates with your spouse. You probably put on your best face, and put your best foot forward. Do the same thing on Date Night--even if it is the fiftieth or hundredth or thousandth Date Night.

I can't speak for my husband, but I always look forward to our Date Night, no matter what we have planned. It's an easy and fun way to make sure that, despite how busy we are, we take some time to remember why we work so well together, and how much fun we have together. When you're busy, it's easy to get bogged down making sure one of you has taken out the trash, loaded the dishwasher, mowed the lawn, bought the groceries...all the things that keep a household running. But it's important to keep your marriage running strong, too. It's just more fun that way. :-)