Miss This

Christmas Eve 2009...our last date before Augustine arrived...check out my post-due-date belly!

Last night, Luke and I went out on a date!

This was a big occassion for us because, with the exception of a Valentine's Day dinner (when Augustine wasa 6 weeks old) and a frozen yogurt run when we were staying with Luke's family at VA Beach a few weeks ago, Luke and I have not been on any solo dates--or anywhere alone together--since the birth of our wonderful baby boy almost eight months ago!! For the most part, that is the way we like it. We are homebodies to begin with, and we have learned to make the most of the alone time we do get together.

In fact, most every night is "date night"--if you count sitting on the couch together eating ice cream and watching a movie...or popping popcorn and playing board games...or enjoying each other's company while catching up on our reading...or having friends over to socialize after the little guy goes down--as dates.

We do, and we cherish that special time from about 7:30 pm-10:30 pm each night when it is just the two of us (and maybe a few friends).

However, we have been meaning to go on a real date for quite some time now and finally took the plunge last night. After tucking our sweet babe in for the night (i.e. until his first feeding), we ducked out for dinner at the Bone Fish. We sat in the corner of the bar and conversed over a margarita, a beer, and some tasty sea food.

Date Night--isn't he handsome?!

We held hands, we kissed a lot, we stared into each other's eyes, we flirted--I was glowing...

And then the tears started flowing (poor Luke), as I reminicsed about the ways things "used to be." The bar tenders were probably betting between "death in the family" and "lost job." Sitting there eating my Bang Bang Shrimp, it hit me that I had really been missing this part of our relationship. It brought me back to the time when everything was all about us all the time...and I missed it. It is a pretty selfish thought, to be completely honest. Yet it is something I stuggle with at times.

Don't get me wrong...I wouldn't change anything about the last few years of our lives, very least of all the birth of our baby boy. Adding Augustine to our family has been far more fulfilling and blessed and wonderful that I even imagined it could be (God has that way of surpassing our expectations, doesn't He?). But our lives now are very different than they were before we were blessed with Augustine. It's not just about me and Luke anymore, (Duh!) and that creates ineviatable changes...changes that I can be hesitant to accept.

But thanks to my loving, patient husband--and his wisdom, which, as a guy he can consider apart from emotion much better than I can--I am slowly learning to accept that things have to change sometimes, and that that is an okay, and even good, thing.

Luke gave the example of how things have changed since right after we got married.

For the first three months of our marriage, I didn't work.

I slept in everyday until 10 am, when he would get home from practice and wake me up with kisses.

We would hang out all day until he had to coach for a few hours in the evenings.

It was wonderful! And it was a great way to start our marriage and our life in a new city. But at the end of our extended honeymoon, so to speak, I had to get a full-time job. He had to start looking for other work avenues for when his season ended. We needed to spend more time working on the house we had just bought.

Things changed, and they needed to (or we would probably be out on the streets by now...). But that doesn't mean our lives got worse--they actually got even better...just different!

Yes, I miss being able to have my hands free to reach over and grab Luke's (for more than 34 seconds)...and if I had it my way, I would still spend all of my free time in his arms...and I don't know if I could ever get enough kisses from him, then or now, BUT I am okay with it all because now there are two more little hands that need mine and another little being who likes to be showered with kisses.

Last night, I realized that there is something speical about getting out of the house for a real date, and we will be sure to make it more of a habit. But, overall, I think our transition from a family of two to a family of three has been incredible.

As good as this was (and it was very, very good)...

this is even better...