Date Night

It's been a crazy month so far, to say the least. It started with a stretch of 12 straight days of working every possible moment on a big proposal for our firm: mornings before the kids were up, evenings after they were down, and weekends included. I went straight from that to California with my daughter to see my mom. And then I returned smack dab in the middle of a hectic work week, a home improvement project, and Amy being sick enough to necessitate me pulling double school runs for a couple of days. Here's an indicator of how much stuff has piled up: I have a folder in my work email in-box called "read later," where I slough off messages I don't have time for . . . and it's currently at 990 emails and counting.

One important use of time that has been sorely neglected in the midst of all this has been time with Amy. So it was quite a treat to score a babysitter for two hours on a Saturday evening, leave the kids at home, and enjoy dinner and dessert at a couple of different places around our neighborhood. Sure, we talked about kids and parenting a bit; but mostly it was two adults who like each other a lot simply enjoying each other's company. And, after we returned home, send the babysitter home, and put the kids to bed, we hung out some more, watching taped reality shows and exchanging much-needed adult conversation.

Needless to say, this date night was much needed and much appreciated. We'll certainly have to make sure we do this more often.