Mystery Date Night

Sometimes, in a marriage, life kinda' gets in the way of the romance, and you need to take drastic actions to kick it up.

About a week or so ago, I gave Hubs a directive...it went something like this:

"Hubs...I've been making ALL of our plans lately. YOU get to plan our next date night. I need to be woo'd. Surprise me. Woo me. Wine & dine me."

Yes...I was feeling a little neglected, and I wanted HIM to step up and knock my socks off.

So, Friday evening, we head out to parts unknown (on my end, anyway), and I'm driving him crazy, asking a million questions on where we're going, because in actuality, I hate surprises and it was driving me absolutely bonkers to not know where we were headed, which kinda' defeated the purposes of a surprise date night, right?

He did his best to fend off the barrage of questions coming at him, but when he reached his limit, he finally said, "ENOUGH! We're going for your favorite food, okay?"

Oh! A clue! Mexican!

Sure enough, we ended up at a Mexican restaurant that we've never eaten at before...and after eating there, we now know that we'll never eat there again. It was that bad. Giant hunks of onions in my burrito - grrrrrr. Who DOES that??!!

So, dinner was rather a bust, but I tried to cheer up my despondent husband by saying, "Hey - I'm GLAD we tried it! Now we know what it's like, and we know we'll never be back! See? That's a GOOD thing!"

We left the restaurant and headed to Part 2 of Mystery Date Night...and we ended up at a movie theater that we've never gone to before. As we park the car, Hubs said, with a bit of panic in his voice, "Well, we're a little early...the movie I've picked out doesn't start until 7:55 p.m....which is an hour from now...what do we do until then?"

I said, "Well...here's a novel idea...we can sit in the car and actually TALK. You know, about grown-up things."

But before we could engage in some fascinating, titillating adult conversation, it was driving me absolutely bonkers that I didn't know what movie we were seeing...so on came the barrage of questions.

Hubs finally said, "ENOUGH! We're seeing your favorite actor, okay?"

Oh! A clue! George Clooney!

Sure enough, Hubs had picked out "The American" for us to see. Woot! How exciting!

I then suggested to Hubs, "Why don't you run in and get the tickets for us? Then come back out and we'll talk."

Hubs was looking for anything to do at this point - he would have gone out and done embroidery - if it meant less talking time - so he eagerly jumped out of the car to go get tickets....

He came back with a very weird, very horrified look on his face.

"They changed the movies!" He wails.... "Who DOES that?"

I said, "Well, most theaters do change their movies on Friday...did you not check this morning?"

No. He hadn't. No George Clooney, darn it. My choices were Ben Affleck in "The Town" or Michael Douglas in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps". Not being a Ben fan made it a no-brainer; I chose the money. Hubs then looks even MORE panicked.

"Well, that movie starts NOW! We have to run!"

Yikes. So much for adult conversation. We looked like two kids, running into the building as fast as possible, running to the concession stand, and then running into a darkened theater to find seats....We JUST made it when the previews were finishing up.

And the movie? Bleh. Great cinematography; less-then-stellar screenwriting.

So, Mystery Date Night...I give Hubs props for making an effort - he tried. And that fact alone made me feel special. And woo'd.

Even without George Clooney.

Peace.