A is for Anything

Two weeks ago in Sunday School the lesson was about eternal marriage.  We believe that family relationships can extend beyond this life through temple ordinances, and of course that family begins with a husband and wife.  Well, we were sitting in class and, in order to start a conversation on strengthening marriages, the instructor said, "So, tell us what you and your spouse like to do to have fun."  Lots of hands went up and people made suggestions and many heads nodded in assent. But Garry and I looked at each other and went, "Ummmm...we've got nothin'."

It turns out that we are exact opposites in nearly every respect.  We have the usual Mars v. Venus relationship issues, of course, but after 15 years of marriage we are still hard-pressed to find a recreational activity we both enjoy.  This is pretty pathetic, but here we are.  One day all our kids are going to leave the house and we'll look at each other and go, "And you are....?"  Probably a bad time for that conversation, right?

So there was a couple in that Sunday School class that I consider to be an amazing example of parenting and marriage and pretty much everything.  The wife said that they recently started something called "ABC Dating," where each weekly date activity starts with a different letter.  It helps them think outside the box when it comes to date nights.  I decided to copy them, and Garry agreed to go along with the plan.

Well, that meant that (1) we needed to go on a date, and (2) we needed to make a plan starting with the letter A.  We got stuck on #1.  Friday rolled around and we (meaning I--it's my job, right?) didn't get a babysitter.  We had pizza for dinner and the kids played outside until dark.  I sat down at the piano and played for a long time while Garry worked on something in the garage.  We got the kids to bed, and, defying my usual pattern of going to bed after the kids, I went downstairs and watched TV with Garry until I fell asleep (which was like 10 minutes after we started a show).  It was the closest thing to a date that we've had in a while.

So then we rescheduled for Saturday.  We actually talked about some options.  A movie starting with A?  A for Applebees?  A for Albertsons?  A for....A lot of ice cream?  Yeah, real creative.  We knew that A was going to mean After the Littles are in Bed, so we didn't have to pay for a babysitter. Finally we thought of A for Aerobics--we'd go to the gym.  Ha!  That plan was fine and good until we remembered a wedding reception we wanted to attend.  Who wants to exercise after getting dressed up for a reception?  Well, we didn't.  

After the kids' bedtime on Saturday night, we decided A is for Anything.  We watched "The Host," which I (finally) read recently.  We both enjoyed the movie, which is a rare and remarkable occurrence!

When it comes to dating my husband, I think that A for Anything is better than N for Nothing, but hopefully as the weeks go on, we'll be a little more creative with our ABCs.