Last night I went on a great date. And, although I am married, the date wasn’t with my husband or with my children. My husband, however, encouraged me to go.
The evening began with a hand-crafted cocktail, served in a dimly lit room at a table with candles. I definitely felt pampered and enjoyed my night away from responsibility.
Next was a gorgeous dinner and luscious Sauvignon Blanc. After that it was time for a movie. I felt a little wild and free.
By the way… yes, like I said, I am still happily married, so please don’t worry there. And no, my husband and I do not encourage the dating of others.
So what’s up?
Last night I took myself out on a date. Solo.
I originally had plans to fly to another city for the day for a meeting. My husband had business plans, so I booked a sitter, booked the flight, and planned on the day and evening away from home.
Unfortunately at first, the person with whom I was meeting cancelled. But then she suggested we talk via phone, and the possibilities of an unhurried day and the gift of extra hours no longer needed for travel for revealed itself.
I got to go to my exercise class. I had time to shop for my son’s prayer partner from school. With the kids, I bought and delivered bagels for all the teachers at their school. I even bought cookies and drinks to leave for our garbage men and recycling team.
And that phone meeting? Well, it was the kind of call that makes you want to be super successful so you can turn around and do the same thing for someone else some day: The woman on the other end blew me away with her insight and willingness to help with contacts, ideas and even an invitation for followup. It was the refreshment and encouragement that this tech startup CEO really needed!
So, with that completed and no flight home needed, I pondered what to do with my evening.
I already had our beloved babysitter booked. Just like I wouldn’t want her to cancel on me, I didn’t think it would be right to cancel on her so late. I thought about productive ways to spend my time. Then I thought about refreshing ways to spend my time, and looked into what was showing at the local movie theater.
I confessed my idea to my husband, who told me he had read that it’s a good idea for a woman to take herself out for a date every now and then. At that, my guilt for wanting to indulge myself in a solo trip to the movies began to fade. Since I was driving to a movie theater which was in a swanky shopping center, I decided to add a nice dinner to the evening, as well.
Just after I was seated at the restaurant that guilt twinge grabbed me again. I ordered a cocktail and texted my husband to tell him about it.
He didn’t hesitate a moment in texting me back with this:
Don’t feel one iota guilty. Have a peaceful evening.
And so that is exactly what I did. All by myself. And it was beautiful. As much as I love my family, my husband and my friends, that date night was the perfect ending to my day and was very much needed.
This made me think about the idea a bit more.
Have any of you taken yourself out on a date solo? What did you do? If you haven’t, why haven’t you? Would you consider it? Id love to know your thoughts…
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