Its date night tonight, there's only one little hitch in my plan my wife doesn't know about it. You see when we first got married we decided that at least once a week we would have date night. Before the kids arrived most of our dates were how shall I say it extravagant.
Our dates were always about us and our love. We would pick a romantic location and do something special from a quiet dinner for two. Early on when it was easy we would take a weekend getaway forgetting about everything. We would just take either the hours or days and make it about us.
By the time Kayla and Ryan had arrived we were still able to keep up with our weekly date night. Somehow I think this was because our babysitter didn't mind two kids. However our weekend getaways were moved to our anniversary. By the time Lucas had arrived our plans changed to once every two weeks. With three kids running about it required a lot more planning than what we had done at the start of our marriage. When Haleigh arrived our date night moved to once a month.
Now this may not be much if you consider the fact that my wife and I have lunch nearly every day while were working, but there's something different about a date. A date gives us this special time where we can hold hands without the leftover stickiness from one of our children, or the disgusted sighs if we're caught kissing.
Sarah arrived home about an hour ago. After her day at work it took a lot of convincing to get her to get ready for our night. It helped the fact though that I told her we were going out as a family. I'm in the kitchen when I hear the doorbell ring, but before I can answer it Sarah's at the door allowing our on call babysitter to enter. She turns to look at me, "Harm?"
"Uhh...Jean thanks so much for coming. Lucas and Haleigh are downstairs, the food is almost ready and you know the usual bedtimes," Harm says as he grabs his keys and wallet from the side table and moves Sarah to the Lexus.
Once I close the driver side door Sarah starts in on the questions. "Okay time to fess up flyboy what's going on?"
"Well you know how we've been really busy lately. Well I've decided to restart our date night." I smile at her as she gives me one of her best smiles.
"Sounds like a great idea," she says taking a hold of my hand. "So where are we going?"
"That my dear is a secret. So close your eyes and let me take you there."
Nearly thirty minutes after leaving our house I pull up to a secluded spot among the mountains above us. I lead Sarah from the passenger seat to the trunk that's already open. "Okay open your eyes," I say. As her eyes open I hear her laugh as she takes in the blow up bed covered with our picnic blanket and a small picnic basket in the corner. "A night under the stars this is perfect," she says as I help her into the back.
"I'm glad you like it. For dinner we have a Caesar salad for our starter, and then our entree is grilled salmon, followed by a large piece of death by chocolate cake.
"Sounds delicious. So what's on our menu to drink tonight?" she asks as I pull our dinner out of the basket. Taking a look back in I see two boxes of juicy juice grape juice.
"Apparently tonight's beverage is grape juice." I hear a snicker from behind me.
"I'm guessing compliments of Haleigh." she states as I hand her a juice box.
"Yeah, that should teach me to not let a five year old help me pack." We both break into fits of laughter, but I stop when I catch sight of her. Her eyes shine in the moonlight reflecting the stars above us. My breath hitches a little. 'God I love this woman.'
"Harm are you okay?" I nod my head in response, but instead of speaking I pull her in for a kiss. I increase it past our usual quick pecks when we're with the kids, to much more passionate. My hand moves to her neck as my thumb caresses her cheek.
"I love you." I mumble against her lips. I feel her respond with an 'I love you too.'
As I sit here under the night sky, cascading over the Virginia area, my wife in my arms and our lips connecting with one another. I can't help but think that I love date nights and this is definitely becoming a weekly routine again.