Commence with the Romance

I am obsessed with the show This Is Us. One reason everyone loves this show, besides the fact that Jack Pearson is hot (Did I say that out loud?) is because Jack and Rebecca’s relationship is so fantastic. Come on, they seriously got it goin’ on. He’s not perfect. She’s not perfect. But together – they’re imperfectly perfect.

One of my favorite scenes is a Date Night they share. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who has slid back into his addiction.  He is fighting it again, but he is sad and embarrassed. He is reluctant to reopen the wounds from his past, and he certainly doesn’t want to talk about it with his wife.  He has shut Rebecca out.

The couple has not been intimate for weeks, and Rebecca decides to take matters into her own hands. She puts on a pretty dress, shows up at his office in his restored ’70 Chevelle, and whisks him away to recreate their first date.

Eureka, It Worked.

On paper this First Date Recreation doesn’t look like much.  Way back when, Jack had planned a concert, but the night got screwed up and they ended up spending it in his Chevelle in the Pittsburgh Civic Arena parking lot eating burgers. So, her Big Date Recreation plan is, yeah, take out burgers in the car. That’s where they fell in love, and this night years later they got back to being Them. That Rebecca. She’s a smart one.

Oh, I know that Jack and Rebecca are not real. (Now that is a sentence I never wanted to utter, even in my mind.) But the truth is that Date Nights are real and they are important to your relationship.

Every couple needs time just to themselves for something romantic. No, not with another couple. No, not with the kids. We need time set aside just with each other to laugh a little, flirt a lot and remember why we love and like each other. The term Date Night is hardly new; I googled it and got 27 million results! So why do so few couples do it? I hear so many reasons: It’s too expensive. It’s too complicated to plan. We can’t get a babysitter. I’m too busy. We can’t find something we want to do.

Well, I’ve learned that we make time for the things that are important to us. And it doesn’t have to be a big deal nor expensive.  And why would we ever plan something that both people wouldn’t like?

Date Nights are real and they are important to your relationship. Before I share some date night ideas, though, I’ve written more about traversing through hard times in your relationship. Look around in here. I’ll get you started with a link at the bottom of this page.

Some of the Stuff We Do

I’m a foodie. I love to eat. I love to cook. And I like to explore recipes, restaurants and cuisines I’ve never made nor eaten before. My enthusiasm for All Things Gourmet has transferred to my husband. The man who used to buy seven Hungry Man frozen dinners every week now enjoys trying to identify the spices in a new meal. So, we visit restaurants on our city’s Twenty Five Best Restaurants list, including the ones with just one dollar sign. A meal doesn’t have to be expensive to be great.

We pile blankets and pillows on the Family Room floor and binge watch shows online like This Is Us (yes!) or our favorite music artists on YouTube. We can watch Bobby’s guitar hero, Richie Kotzen, for hours.

We go to neighborhoods we love or the local mall and shop. Sometimes, we buy stuff.

We get into our cruising car and just drive. There is something about closing those doors that feels so private. We can see everything and everyone we pass, but no one can hear us. We listen to music and talk. And laugh and talk.  And talk.

Sometimes these dates are spontaneous like the night my husband asked me to look at the stars with him. I had things on my to-do list for that night, but I grabbed a blanket, and off we went to the yard.  I loved that night.

I could give you ideas, but you know what you like. My advice is to make it easy and really fun for both of you. Don’t complicate it too much. Pinterest is full of ideas that sound great and they are. But they require planning and will slow you down. You’ll be stuck pinning things while never actually doing anything. Save that for later.

For now – just go and have fun!  Then, do it again.

What would a recreation of your first date look like?

Now, commence with the romance.

Here’s the link I promised. It’s about traversing the hard times in our relationships.

Rocky Roads