Speed Dating

Jeremy and I are enjoying this stage in our family right now. One of the best parts is that the kids are old enough for us to leave for chunks of time while we go out and party hearty. Ironically, just as we are reaching this coveted stage, the kids are also old enough that they have multiple activities pulling us in different directions, making date nights difficult to arrange. But we shall persevere and overcome!

To celebrate Valentine's last night, we decided to just get some take out to eat when the kids were in bed. But the complications of this plan became apparent when we outlined the evening's activities. Aiden had to be at basketball practice from 6-7. Marissa had dance from 6:45-7:45. In between all this there was homework and practicing to enforce. It was also bath night. And then bedtime is usually staggered from about 8 until after 10 most days. Take out wasn't sounding like such a great idea after all.

Did I already mention that we shall overcome? I applied my thinking cap and realized that if we got one of Aiden's teammates to bring him home from practice, Jeremy and I could go together to drop Marissa off at dance and then head to one of our town's fine dining establishments for a meal.

Herein lies another kink in our not-so-well-laid plans. Our town has almost no options for a decent meal. We have an assortment of fast food, which would work for our time constraints, but the food snob in me asserted itself against Burger King, et. al., for Valentine's. That left about 2 other choices. We stopped at one, saw the waiting line, and knew that wouldn't work. That's when we remembered another little restaurant down the way: a BBQ joint called Sean's. Plumb out of feasible alternatives and running out of time, we skipped on over. I ordered a beef brisket sandwich on Texas toast with a side of sweet potato fries and sampled the Black and Blue [blueberries and blackberries] BBQ sauce. Jeremy tried the triple threat, a combination sandwich with pulled pork, ham, and bacon. He got steak fries on the side but kept stealing mine. May I say that I am completely won over? I have been thinking about that sandwich ever since. Even now, I think I'm drooling just a little. And to top it off, the timing was perfect. We licked our fingers and arrived back at the dance studio with a few minutes to spare.

It may not have been leisure or well thought out or highly romantic, but Jeremy and I made it a delightful and delicious Valentine's speed date. The very best part, I must add, was the company. Happy Valentine's day to my friend and true love!