Date Day

Last weekend, Lee and I celebrated our 12th year anniversary. No, no, not our 12th year wedding anniversary but our 12th year dating anniversary. I can’t believe we’ve been together for that long. It’s been rather rough this last year though. Finances, time management, and parental duties have really put a strain on our relationship. It’s hard to keep things upbeat and positive when so much pressure and stress is pushing us down.

So for our dating anniversary date, we arranged to have Grammy watch Abby so that we could have a proper date with some extra free time to boot. On date day, we went to Morton’s again. This time though, we went during the lunch hour. My gift card that I had earned from work for “discretionary effort” at the beginning of the year went a lot further on the lunch prices. That meant I could really afford my two lemon drop martinis!


As always, the food was most excellent. I got the salmon fillet with asparagus; Lee got the rib eye steak with mashed potatoes. We shared the sides and added an order of button mushrooms that were mouth-watering delectable. And for dessert Lee had a chocolate mousse parfait with coffee, and I ordered the crème Brule. The crème part was so smooth and silky it simply melted on my tongue. Awesome! Total price, excluding our generous tip that we always leave the wait staff there because they’re soooo courteous and professional, was $100. That’s right, $100 for lunch! And since it was covered on a gift card, it was 100% guilt free! Now that’s a date!

To finish our afternoon of child-free fun, we went to the movie theaters. The last time we went out to see a movie together was at least 9 months ago. So we went to see “Where the Wild Things Are,” based on a children’s book that both Lee and I had had when we were little. Artistically speaking, it was great, really capturing the feel of the book. Had it captured more fun feelings, I would have enjoyed it more. It was definitely not made for kids. Considering I was in the mood to escape from the realities of life, I was not in the mood for a dark movie. Oh well. It was still an excellent show.

It was pleasant to have time to ourselves. After lunch we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the capital building. Without Abby demands, appointments or chores looming, it was nice to just be.