31 Days of Rest & Risk :: Day 16 ~ Date Night Fanatics

Caroline and I started dating in 1990.  When we got married in 1997 we did not stop.

For the past 22 years we have gone on a weekly date… and I can count two hands how many dates we’ve missed.  We have made our date nights non-negotiable.  Our 3-5 hour weekly date is one of the things on our calendar that we don’t cancel or compromise.   The family schedule works around date night.

Why?  The main reason… it’s a time for us to rest as a couple… to reset.
Date nights are very important to us.  Want proof how important they are?  OK…

Three weeks ago our son Tygar crashed hard on his bicycle… it was a Tuesday night.  Tuesday nights are date night.  The sitter comes to the house every Tuesday at 6pm.

Tygar came home at 5pm.  He was bleeding from his chin, and right arm, and complained of a lot of pain in his left arm.   My first thought… ‘how late is the emergency room open, and can I get him there and back by 6pm?‘

So I quickly cleaned up the blood, put him in the car and took him to the emergency room.  They finished cleaning up all the blood I missed, and took x-rays of his left arm…
It was broken.  My second thought… ‘how fast can they put a splint on his arm, and can I still get him home by 6pm?‘

The doctors put him in a splint, wrote a prescription for pain medicine and sent us home.  My third thought… ‘how fast can I get this prescription filled, and when will I get home?‘

So we went to the pharmacy, got his Tylenol with codeine, and got home at 7:05pm

The following events took place between 7:05pm and 7:12pm (as I recall them)
You can ask Caroline if you don’t believe me.

7:05pm – Walked in the front door
7:06pm – I said hello to the sitter
7:07pm – I gave Tygar some codeine
7:08pm – I put Tygar on the couch
7:09pm – I told the other 3 children – “don’t touch Tygar”
7:10pm – I said goodbye to the sitter
7:11pm – Caroline and I walked out the front door
7:12pm – Caroline and I were in the car leaving for our date

Date nights are very important to us.  It’s a crucial time to rest… and reset.

We ask 3 questions every week on our date night…
1) How are we doing spiritually?
2) How are we doing financially?
3) How are we doing physically?

Why these 3 questions?  It has appeared to us that these are the top three reasons for relationship strain and divorce… so we check on them every week.

Yes we are Date Night Fanatics.  Are you?

~ Greg

{This is a series of posts for 31 Days of Rest & Risk. To read the other posts, click here.}