The Great Date Debate

Ruanita and I have the opportunity to go out on a date night tonight. My aunt has generously volunteered to watch our little darlings for us so we can get away for a bit. Now comes the difficult decision....whatever shall we do? You would think this would be a simple decision, right? The possibilities are endless. The problem is, any time we have the opportunity for a date night, we cannot come up with anything to do that is worthy of a free night of babysitting. Remember that old Seinfeld episode where Elaine's contraceptive sponge was discontinued? She was screening all potential mates to decide if they were "sponge-worthy." I feel the same way about a babysitter. Babysitters are so few and far between that I feel a night out must somehow be worthy of using up one of those opportunities. So...that brings me back to that wrenching question. Whatever shall we do tonight?

Dinner is an absolute must. The opportunity to eat without a single urchin asking for a bite of my food, curling up their nose to tell me my food stinks, or spilling milk on my food is too good to pass up. So, we will definitely be eating dinner out. Where? I don't know...someplace that is 100% completely and totally NOT child-friendly. Any suggestions?

After dinner...who knows? We debated going to a movie...it's been a loooong time since we saw a movie that did not include Cinderella's castle in the opening credits. With it being Oscar season, there are several really great movies out right now that I would really like to see. However...I will be brutally honest. Here is the embarrassing truth....Ruanita and I are both so tired most of the time that we truly have trouble staying awake to watch a whole movie in a theater. Seriously. I get my tummy nice and full of popcorn, a warm sweatshirts wrapped around me...and then they turn out the lights?? It's all over...I am snoring in no time. How embarrassing is that? So we may skip the movie.

Lately, our dates nights have typically culminated in a trip to Target. It seems that there is always something we need to pick up at Target. I am a huge fan of Target...seriously, aside from the beach in the dead of summer, it is probably one of my very favorite places in the world to go. Sad, but true. However, I don't exactly feel that a trip to Target is babysitter worthy. I am going to try my best to avoid Target this evening. Of course...it may still suck us in....Target DOES have that magnetic power, you know?

So...what to do? What to do? We could go have drinks somewhere...but Ruanita doesn't really drink. And I've been told that drinking alone suggests a problem with alcohol, right? We could go to a bar...do a little dancing. However, the bar scene just makes me feel old...plus, by the time anyone actually shows up at a bar, I am already yawning and dreaming of my bed. Hmmm...we could go hang out at a coffee shop...but Ruanita doesn't drink coffee, and the music they pipe into those places will put me into a coma if it's after 8pm at night. Ummm...we could go shopping...I love to shop and would do it any time of the day or night. Ruanita hates to shop, so that may not work. We could go to a casino...play a few slots....hang out with the geriatric crowd. Then again, we may be old, but we are not THAT old...yet.

So, this whole post begs the question...just how pathetic are Ruanita and I that we cannot come up with a single thing to do when stripped of our children for an evening?