Sometimes the best ideas are so obvious and simple.
In this case, my husband and I were trying to find a sitter and dinner reservation for the over-hyped and prime date event of Valentine’s Day.
Then it hit me: since I work outside the home part-time, we ALREADY had a baby sitter on Valentine’s Day. We didn’t have a sitter in the evening, but we had childcare DURING LUNCH.
Aha!
If the goal is for my husband and me to have quality and uninterrupted one-on-one time (preferably over fabulous food), then why not utilize the sitter we already have during the lunch hour?
I booked a Valentine’s lunch reservation at the wonderful new Stephan Pyle’s haunt, Stampede 66, and we had a perfect date. And then we both went back to work. That night, we ordered pizzas with our two-year-old and felt like the romantic holiday was a win-win for the whole family.
This simple idea had us both thinking: why don’t we meet for lunch more often? We always talk about how we need to go on more dates and yet we have an almost daily option to meet during the day.
So, we started taking advantage of it.
It’s a simple thing, but re-thinking how we defined one-on-one time has made us meet up regularly. Our dates can be spontaneous and last-minute because we don’t have to plan days in advance to accommodate a sitter.
Quick picnic lunches are always sweet dates and easy to arrange during lunch if you work in the downtown area thanks to the food trucks at Klyde Warren Park. We also like to grab tacos from Rusty Taco at the Main Street Garden.
And one last bonus for the lunch hour date: meals are less expensive than the dinner menus.
As parents, quality marriage time sometimes requires creativity and thinking outside the box.
What are you doing to keep your marriage alive during the balancing act of raising a family?
