I approached Steve smiling a hopeful smile, "Hey hon. I...am... wanting to ask you something but I hesitate because I really want you to say yes, and I don't know how you'll feel about it."
"Uh oh!" was the immediate response I heard from both him and Amara who was also in the room.
I was a bit taken back by their unianimous reaction. "Before I ask you, I want to know what you guys think I'm going say."
They both thought it was something to do with big chores.
"Well, it's not that, so you can relax a little. I was reading an email and it mentioned a dating idea- you go on a date with your spouse each month on the day you were married. So for us it would be the 3rd of every month. And we alternate who plans the date."
"Oh. Yeah. We should do that!" Steve said. "I'll plan the first one." He was actually really positive and on board without any persuasion on my part. AWESOME! And so our new dating tradition was born.
"Plus, that will probably help me remember the actual date of our anniversary." He added. Which is true. He often thinks we were married on the 6th for some reason.
First Date
August 3rd was our first date. A Sunday. He had it in his calendar and gave it some good thought. I wish I had some pictures to document the date, but I was just enjoying it. He planned for us to go on an ebike ride to the park. He brought a frisbee and we just enjoyed the park to ourselves, threw the disc to eachother and chatted. It was a really great first date! I love talking to Steve. He's the best and I am blessed to be married to him.
Date Two
I got to plan the next date which was on a Wednesday, and I wanted to be all special and creative, but the more thought I gave to it the more I thought it was best to just keep it simple since we were both going to be busy and tired.
Well tired was an understatement. More on that later. But, I landed on us going out to eat at the brand new steakhouse in town, Swains. I've been wanting to try it for awhile.
So, Steve looked at the menu and ordered an appetizer, fried pickles and fried green beans. He said he wasn't feeling very hungry. I went with the cowboy chicken cordon bleu. The waitress brought us warm rolls and cinnamon honey butter. That was actually my favorite thing. I ended up taking most of my food home because it was WAY too rich. It was chicken with bacon on it and mashed potatoes drowning in a very cheesy thick gravy.
While we waited for our food I tried to make conversation but Steve's answers were delayed. He was so drowsy and you could tell. He had taken benedryl right before our date to help with the horrid reaction to a yellow-jacket wasp sting he got. It was super itchy. I think that stuff put his brain to sleep. On a positive note, he was a really warm body to cuddle up next to on the restaurant bench since it was sorta cold in there. We just snuggled, ate rolls, and took our food home.
PS. Steve's sting/itchiness/pain took longer than you'd think to calm down, but it eventually did go away.
In the Future
I love our new tradition and I'm looking forward to our future dates. I love that Steve takes a turn planning! I've definitely dominated that aspect of our dating in the past and not really by choice. I've already been thinking what I might plan for my next turn, and I'm sure it will be a good one, no matter how it turns out. After all, the best part isn't the date—it's the person you're with."
