date night: a special evening on any given night of the week, where just the two of you, sans kiddos, eat an overpriced but equally delicious meal you did not have to make, nor will you have to clean up. worth it? always.
before having our little lady, this thing called ‘date night’ was pretty easy to manage. heck, every night might as well have be date night; that’s how carefree and spontaneous we were {and could be} when it was the two of us. to be honest, we have really not been too fond of the fact that we now have to plan and carve out ‘us time’ to go on said date. we often talk about how we dislike an evening that feels too forced. i mean, let’s face it, sometimes planning can take the fun out of things {said by a person who usually craves spur-of-the-moment activities!}.
we have talked about our feelings regarding date night, have came to some understandings, and now know what we need to do, which is: put our optimistic pants on and accept the fact that life can’t always be impulsive when you have a wee one. so we took on a 'plan and carve we must and most definitely will do' attitude!
with my mama being in town, we decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity for a sitter and go out on a date! we headed to our favorite food areas in kansas city called westport. lucky for us, this eclectic and always charming neighborhood is a only a few cobblestone blocks away. while making our way to the boot, a quaint italian café, we spotted our dear friends. what a wonderful surprise! we joined them for a cocktail before heading down the street to pot pie for dinner. pot pie is an enchanting little gem of a restaurant offering unique drinks and always satisfying entrées, and their famous pot pie, of course. i adore how this little bistro is set up, with its tiny wooden tables side by side, vintage apothecary vases, fresh flowers, and whimsical chalkboard menu. if you are from kc, try it, you must!
after we ordered and ate the mussles, which in my opinion are the best in kansas city, an uneasy feeling started to settle in my tummy and the brick walls...started...to...shift. as the server placed my meal in front of me, i recall seeing about 10 fuzzy scallops instead of 4. ...then I remembered taking my cold medicine at work around 3... crap. crap. crap. long story short, my husband was amazingly understanding and we got our dinners to go. i could not help but feel i was the cause of this weighted disappointment resting on our shoulders, seeing as we did not get to eat our meals at the restaurant {one of the main concepts of date night}, nor did we get to go to the baseball game we had tickets for after dinner.
so the reality was, we needed to go home, get into our jammies, and be that couple that goes to bed before 9 pm. was this really happening? i could not help but think that a part of me, maybe just a tiny part, just wanted to be home under the same roof as our daughter. the cold medicine + one cocktail was an awful and uncomfortable combination initiating my feelings of discomfort, but was there some 'parent anxiety' behind these feelings that impatiently nagged at me to get home? hmmmm?
our finally planned date night was good while it lasted, which was not very long. i just hope it will get easier for us over time. tell me, what do you guys do for date night? and, have you ever felt these difficult 'date night realities' as new parents?
