Amber & Matt January Date Summary

As most of you know, my husband has has recently made a major career change.  His old schedule as an elementary teacher was basically from 7-3 M-F.  With this new change, his new hours are 11 PM- 7 AM.  He also works any day of the week, not just M-F.  Lots of people ask us how he likes it, how do I like it etc.  One of my responses is that we are adjusting to this new life of ours.  It really is an adjustment for all of us.  He is home sleeping during the day when our son and I are gone, and often sleeping on the weekends when we were used to having the opportunity for lots of family time.  All of us are doing pretty good with the adjustment.  By sleeping during the day, he is able to be awake in the evenings when we are home, going to activities, dinner time etc. 

We didn't make date nights a priority before but would occasionally do something together or with friends on the weekends.  The new schedule has created some issues with this.  One of these issues is date night.  I work M-F and am usually so tired during the week.  This month he has Tues- Wed. off so our only option was a Tuesday night date.  We planned it the week before and were both looking forward to spending some time together.  I sent him a text the night before our date while he was at work letting him know that I was really looking forward to our date the next night.

Both of us are famous for having several "irons in the fire" at one time.  Even with his new job, Matt has not been able to put down his passion for coaching wrestling.  I told him he could still go to practice that night and we would go when he got home.  This would give me time to get home from work and get our son Brock dinner and packed for the babysitter. 

I really didn't have any idea what we would do for our date.  For a Tuesday night, I really couldn't find much going on.  Of course there was always the dinner and a movie option- but that is such an old stand-by.  I love the bookstore date idea I posted about, but just wasn't into it for a Tuesday night date.  Especially now that we don't have a book store close to us. 

I had had a stressful day at work and was making Brock some dinner when Matt walked in earlier that expected.  He looked at me and said, "Are we going?"   I'm pretty much gonna tell you that what he meant was...."you look tired and like crap so I don't think you are still planning on us going out".  I said yes we are going....I was making him dinner and then going to go fix my hair and makeup.  I really was tired for pete's sake- it was a Tuesday!!! But, I was able to quickly do a little magic and we were out the door a few minutes later. 

We dropped off Brock and my grandmas and were excited to get going.  We were both very hungry so that was first up on our list.  We checked the movie times before we left and thought about going to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" later that night.  We headed towards Omaha and tossed a few dinner ideas out and decided to go to the Old Market and pick some place we have both never been.  We ended up at the Rock Bottom Brewery. 

As we were waiting at the hostess stand I heard someone say Matt's name.  It was another officer on Matt's team (team members all have the same days off each month) and his wife out on date night as well.  See this is the normal life to have dates on Tuesday's I thought to myself!  You have to do what you can to make it work!

We enjoyed a little spin dip, a couple beers, and a great dinner.  We laughed (talked about how crazy some people are), cried (talked about how much we are going to miss Matt's grandpa at the State Wrestling Tournament this year- he passed away this past May) and everything in between. 

As we were walking back to the car, we both decided we were way too tired for movie.  We decided to make a stop at Target on the way home and check out the Kindle Fire we had been looking at.  We talked to the electronics guy who gave us an "I just wear red and khaki, not specialize in electronics" run down on how it works and decided to go for the purchase with our Christmas money. 

Here is the part where things seemed to go south.  I don't think that Target shopping or grocery shopping should be allowed on date night.  Long story short, Matt rushed me and I got crabby.  He just doesn't understand the love I have for Target and how I adore walking up and down the aisles, gazing at things in peace and quiet and at a slow, slow pace so I can take it all in.  It's like a magnet.  It sucks me in. 

So, I am going to say that going to Target on date night is like going out with your husband and your boyfriend.  It just doesn't work.