Prince of Dates

Last Saturday, during our 48 hours of freedom, we recreated one of the best dates of our married lives.

For Valentine’s Day a couple of years ago, we treated ourselves to more than dinner and a movie. We hired a sitter who was capable of cooking chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese for our kids, and left in mid-afternoon for massages at Massage Envy. We were given the couples’ room and after 90 minutes of total relaxation, we slithered out to the car and drove to Macaroni Grill for a leisurely meal together. Following the meal, we sauntered over to the movie theater for a showing of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” It was one of those truly unforgettable nights, and has become, in family lore, one of the top dates of all time.

So, last Saturday, since our kids were enjoying a weekend at Grandma’s, we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to recreate that magical date. No worries about getting home by a certain time, no rush on our schedules. Just freedom to enjoy a day together…with a few minor changes.

We once again returned to Massage Envy for the relaxation phase of the date. Once again, we were given the couples’ room, and once again we were treated to 90 wonderful minutes of pure relaxation and stress relief. All too soon our time was up, but we managed to slink our way out to the car and drive to the theater – this time a dollar theater in Plano – for an afternoon matinee of “Prince Caspian.” Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with this idea, and we were a bit short on time, so the theater was quite crowded and we had to sit very close to the front, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read this book. I’m much more familiar with “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” and “The Silver Chair” as I used those books each year when I taught fourth grade. So I wasn’t able to tell if the storyline followed the book as closely in this movie as it did in the first. Regardless, we enjoyed the movie tremendously. Far, far superior to the cheesy Indy flick we’d seen the night before. Now I’ll have to go back and read the book – and this time share it with my own children.

We followed up the movie with a leisurely meal at Friday’s, knowing that in a few days we’d be adopting serious changes to our eating habits for awhile. So we decided to live it up while we could. And while the date wasn’t quite as spectacular as the famed Valentine’s Day Date of 2006, it was still special. Remembering the 15 years we’ve shared – the milestones, the “for better and for worse”, the “in sickness and in health”, the “in joy and in sorrow” – made for an evening we won’t soon forget. And with so much life still ahead of us, we look forward to celebrating many more of these special evenings together.