Wednesday 27 July 2011

DATE NIGHT


Ask any couple out there and they will tell you the importance of having a date night. For some it’s a very structured undertaking, a weekly occurrence that is mandatory for smooth and fun sailing on couple island, and of course, it's meant to be fun. For others, for a litany of reasons, date night has become as extinct as the dodo bird. 

Here’s the thing, most couples will confess that the idea of date night can bring with it a substantial amount of pressure. First there is the sheer organization of it, especially if you have kids. “Will we be able to find a sitter? Wait, the last sitter ate all our food and went through my underwear drawer. Scratch that. Call your mother.” You get the idea. And furthermore, if dear ol' grandma has plans, the sitter will run you about sixty to one hundred bucks on top of whatever activity you plan on doing. Christ, can't you just taste the pressure! Suddenly one starts to realize that the activity on date night not only better be good, but worth whatever money you’re about to shell out. So your average Hollywood blockbuster with popcorn and soda may just not cut the mustard anymore. In fact, I know it won't; watching paint dry is better than the last three movies I saw.

Funny enough, with the King now in our lives, my idea of a date night involves sleep in any form it comes. “A movie, great. Can we see a drama so I can sleep through it? The pub, sure why not, don’t they have those great sofas in the back where we can catch a few winks?” My partner and I have even had those nights where the thought of finding a park bench and taking a nap sounds far more appealing than anything else we can come up with. Yes, we're that couple now. God we need an intervention from the fun police!

Of course, if you’re not total bores like we are, or you haven’t taken the kid plunge yet (which means your date nights are still riotous affairs that don’t have to end at half ten; in fact, the kid free section of the population probably rolls in stinking of tequila around the time I'm waking up with the King) one may start to think out of the box and try to make the date night a bit more unusual, or failing that, at least a bit more exciting. Of course even the sound of those two words (unusual and exciting – for those of you with bad memories) connotes an expensive endeavor, but hey, if it’s your one night off why the hell not. So you find yourself booking theater tickets for that esoteric new play that deconstructs deconstructionism (not), or the hip new restaurant you just have to try, or trying some new activity that sounds youthful, like um...go-carting. 


Of course, who are you kidding, most of these things you’re going to sleep through anyway (although I'd probably suggest you skip the go-carting cause sleeping through that may result in injury). 






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