Date night, a love story

For the last few months Bill and I have been able to take an evening to ourselves each month.

The babysitting situation is premo….it only costs $15 for the entire evening. The cost of finding a baby sitter was what had kept Bill us from wanting to do it more than, say, once a year. Face it, after you pay the baby sitter $10 an hour, factor in dinner, a movie and gas, your date night could cost well over $100-$150 or more. The part of Bill that needed to be with me alone could not quite overcome that part of Bill that hates to let go of money.

Since we moved to the coast, on date night we have 5 hours to do whatever we want.

The night usually consists of dinner out and then time alone on the boat……..I can’t tell you how amazing it is for us to just sit and talk uninterrupted.

We have slowly been touring the restaurants that Bill has deemed too expensive to bring all the kids to….which completely ticks off Cody, as he is the one who checks out the leftovers that we bring home. “HEY!! You had crawfish! You went to (insert name of restaurant the kids want to eat at every night of the week). That isn’t fair!!!”

Last night we hit a local place that is BYOB. You get a table, then head next door to the liquor store, select your drink for the night, bring it back, then they chill and serve it to you.

The food is superb, with a fresh sushi bar, and some amazing gourmet food.

We sat there for 3 hours eating sushi, sipping ice cold Heinekens, in an intimate setting with lots of friendly locals. I met a couple that Bill knew from work ties, and I instantly liked them. I said to Bill “Now see, I think I could really enjoy their company” and I felt a little of the wall I have placed around me give way.

Afterward we went to the boat. Remember how cold it was at the beach making plaster hand prints? Well, the boat was even colder. The hull is basically floating in the water like a nice bottle of beer chilling in ice water…..but instead of drinking that lovely, cold beer you pop the top off and crawl down the neck into it.

We opened some hatches and lit the stove until things warmed up to a point above “Why are we doing this” level. Then the most romantic thing happened. We crawled into the aft bed and fell asleep….a nice, uninterrupted, dozing sleep that only a parent with lots of small children can appreciate.

I think they call it REM, and I highly recommend it.