News from E-Town

Maybe it’s because we don’t have kids yet and therefore don’t feel the urgent need to escape the house all the time.

Maybe it’s because we didn’t live together before we were married but for our entire engagement could hardly wait to be able to hang out in our OWN living room and to some extent still feel like we are “playing house” in our apartment.

Maybe it’s because I just LOVE quality time and there is something about hanging out in our living room together that is more satisfying than a trip to the movies or to fancy restaurant.

Not that I don’t like doing those things. We’ve had some really fun dates “going out” to the movies, for dinner, shopping, or to concerts. (Our first date was to a great little restaurant and then to a Rascal Flatts concert- it was awesome)

I just really love staying in with my husband when we are simply focused on spending time with each other.

This past Saturday evening, we had just finished grocery shopping and while Z fixed a really delicious stir fry out of all the fresh vegetables we had just brought home, I ran to Blockbuster to use our “free movie rental coupon.” After dinner, Z made some amazing popcorn in a pan over the stove. (Not that microwave stuff that we all take for granted now) This was “old fashioned” popcorn which I had NO CLUE how to turn into fluffy white clouds. His time in Albania with a very resourceful mother had taught him how to do it. The result was perfect, simple, un-buttered, un-salted popcorn that overflowed the pot and popped all over our stove and countertop. We salted it ourselves and then

sharing one giant popcorn bowl, sat on our super comfortable couch and watched our movie.

And it was an awesome “date night.” We hadn’t even planned on it. It was just spontaneous and fun and didn’t cost anything. (Unless you count groceries that we were going to buy anyway- the popcorn was a gift from his mom!- And for those of you who don’t have a blockbuster, or a coupon for a free rental, check out your local library! That’s where we usually get our movies!)

And for anyone who doesn’t have time for a full “date night,” one of our favorite activities (which we recently discovered when I was recuperating from a minor surgery and didn’t feel up to doing anything else!) is to sit on opposite ends of our couch so that our feet can still touch but we can easily see each other and just talk for a little while before bed. A glass of wine (or milk or egg nog- I can’t wait til after Thanksgiving- I promised I wouldn’t buy any until then!) and a cozy blanket, and we just talk for a while. Z’s observation was, “Sometimes it is hard to be still enough to allow a conversation to naturally form. It’s so easy to just immerse yourself on the computer or doing any multitude of things around the house when you have some down time. But just stopping and allowing time to talk is so worth the time.”

Again, my need for quality time makes this amazing for me. But seriously, we don’t necessarily need to have something to talk about either. When we slow down enough to just BE with each other, we naturally find something to discuss… and invariably learn something new about each other or our individual interests in the meantime.

I just hope that we are able to do this in 50 years and still learn new things from and about each other.