Date Night With Mr. Darcy

Our little stinker will be twenty-two months old in a few days and my husband and I are just now going on our second date night since she’s been born. Second, date night. The first one was on our two year wedding anniversary. Our lives have been so busy that we just haven’t had the time to go out and enjoy each other. Most importantly we haven’t been able to eat a full meal without having to wipe food, juice or boogies off of a toddler while she’s being handsy with everything within arms reach. We’ve had a rough couple of weeks with the hubby’s travel schedule, sick toddlers, sick adults, and life flying by us we kind of lost track of date nights and desperately deserved one. We were so grateful that one of our toddlers favorite people cleared her schedule to babysit.

I know it sounds silly, but for the few days leading up to our date I was getting nervous and excited about dressing up for my husband. I kept thinking of outfit options, which for me always starts off with what shoes I want to wear. We weren’t going anywhere fancy, but we were going to our place: our favorite place and I couldn’t wait. I feel like I barely have a moment to even look at my husband these days, so I was looking forward to being able to sit across the table from him and gaze obnoxiously into his eyes.

At the last minute we both decided it would be best to go casual, and I was a little relieved. I’ve accumulated some extra wobbly bits this summer so deciding on which pants I was willing to muffin top over or dress to squeeze into becomes a pretty chaotic few minutes spent in my closet. I decided on comfy jeans, a preppy cardigan and my new favorite two tone, wing tipped oxfords. My husband and I looked like we had just walked out of a catalog for the retro and preppy. Even though I didn’t have heels on or a cute dress, I felt the instant Queen status when my husband pulled the car out to the front of the house, and opened my door for me. Mom jeans and oxfords never looked and felt so beautiful.

We road to the restaurant holding hands and listening to the hip-hop and r&b station we can’t listen to while the toddler is in the car. It seriously boggles our minds hearing the words and lyrics of the songs we grew up on and realizing our parents either had no idea or didn’t care about how inappropriate these songs were. I’m serious parental units, did you even listen to the words? Anyhow, while we were cruising along on a romantic Sunday evening, holding hands, watching the fingernail moon creep in and out behind the trees and clouds, and singing to Jodeci or Regina Howard or whatever other inappropriate sexually charged slow jam we knew all the words to all these two fat kids could think about was the food we were about to eat! “What are you going to get baby?” I said. “I don’t know, I’m thinking about the bread.” He said. Oy, we are two peas in a pod.

Even after going seven months without going on a date night, we never even skipped a beat. I’ve never felt so connected or close to anyone in my entire life. If I can’t feel comfortable, safe, loved, and like a complete badass next to the person who has seen me bust their spawn out of my lady bits… then we’ve got bigger problems then lack of time for date nights. All the little pieces and bits of our lives in between the responsibilities is filled with more romance and love than I could’ve ever hoped for. It isn’t the romcom romance you see in the movies, its real life and its thick. In my case, really thick. Cuddling up on the patio furniture, holding hands in the car, talking about our dreams, making and reaching our personal and family goals. Raising our daughter and making every free moment count is our very own romcom. Knowing that whether he is laying beside me or resting in a different time zone for work, that everything he does is for me; Is for us. That’s the most romantic thing anyone could ever do.

So, we sang inappropriate love songs, we had dinner at our favorite place, and made awkward sex noises while we ate, because the food was that good. We got dessert to go (as usual). Went to Target without our toddler, which for any mother is borderline foreplay and ended up back at our place, eating our dessert in bed, watching our all time favorite re-runs to watch, Friends. I don’t know if its sad or sweet, maybe inspiring, but it was a perfect night. I couldn’t tell you what one person looked like all night, whether we were being too loud or being watched, or whether or not there were any other cars on the road. I only felt us and I only saw him; the burliest, sexiest, Brooks Brother’s prepster I’ve ever laid eyes on.

We promised ourselves we would make a better effort at getting date nights scheduled. We spooned and swooned about how wonderful our little evening was, and we both fell soundly asleep dreaming of slow frolicking in a meadow, holding hands, laughing, and eating food that didn’t make you gain weight… then reality woke us up. She woke up needing a couple of extra cuddles, and was also soon fast asleep. We’ll do our best to make date nights a priority, but we both know what will happen. We both know how busy life can get and how obsessed we both are with our little spawn, and how quickly time likes to run away from us. We hope its not another seven months until we get to go out after the street lights are on, but we also know that all the stuff in between is the reason we enjoy one another so much.

Mr. Darcy, 

Thank you for always treating me like a lady, making me feel like a Queen, and letting me eat my body weight in bread with no judgement.

Love your body.

Your Wife,

~Melvi