Date Night Stories

Before my wife and I were married, I read a few books on how to make a strong marriage.  I was excited to be married, and I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to keep my new wife happy.  One thing I read about was to go on regular dates, and, if possible, pick a night each week as "date night".  Teresa and I thought this was a great idea, so Friday became our regular date night.  We didn't go out every Friday during our marriage, but we did go out as often as we could.  And we always had fun.  And we had a strong marriage.

I was thinking about some of the things we used to do together.  Primarily, we would go out to dinner.  We appreciated a good meal, and enjoyed trying out new restaurants.  We also went to see a lot of movies.  I remember when the first Spider-man movie came out, and she was more excited to see it than me.  We saw it the Friday it premiered.  Another movie I remember seeing on Date Night was SIGNS, which was about an alien invasion.  There's one scene in particular that is rather heart-pounding, with the main character, played by Mel Gibson, confronting a possible alien locked in a pantry of a friend's kitchen.  He is a bit of a skeptic, but the friend is adamant as to what it is.  So he goes up to the door of the pantry, kneels down in front of the door, and tries to see who, or what, is in the pantry.  He can't see anything, so he starts to leave.  Then he goes over to a butcher's block, grabs a long, shiny knife, and kneels down next to the door again, this time using the knife as a mirror.  Now, Teresa and I were sitting comfortably in the movie theater, wrapped around each other.  I think her legs were on my lap, and my hand was resting on her lap. At that moment, an alien hand appears in the reflection, grabbing at the knife.  Mel's character jumps and instinctively hacks off a couple of the alien's fingers, then leaves the house as quickly as possible.  I instinctively jumped at that moment, and my hand grabbed Teresa's thigh, which caused her to jump, which scared me and I audibly yelled.  A lot of people had screamed during the scene, but my own yell was like a delayed reaction, and lingered just a little longer.  Teresa and I looked at each other like a couple of school kids, and we lost it.  Such an intense scene of the movie, and we began giggling uncontrollably.  And everyone around us stared and shushed us.  It was a funny moment, and one we talked and laughed about for several years after.

I remember shortly after we married, I took Teresa to a carnival.  Teresa didn't like very many rides, but she did like the Ferris Wheel.  I hate them.  It's one of the worst rides.  I have a fear of falling, and the stupid thing rocks, making me feel like I'm going to fall out.  It's awful.  But I didn't want Teresa to know I didn't like them, especially since she did.  So we got on the ride.  It was dusk, as the sun had just gone down.  After a few nail-biting rotations, with me trying to keep my cool, we were the only ones on the ride.  The attendant decided he wanted us to have a romantic ride, so he let it go for what seemed like 20 minutes.  It wasn't that long, but it was longer than I wanted to be on it.  I just couldn't relax, and all Teresa wanted to do was cuddle.  I started to sweat.  She finally could sense that something was wrong, and I told her I hated the Ferris Wheel.  She laughed, but she also understood, and we were able to catch the attendant's attention so we could get off.  Once off, I actually got down and kissed the ground.

We had many more dates, most not nearly as exciting, but we always kept the romance alive.  I loved my wife so much, and I'm so happy we made the effort to keep our marriage strong.

Best wishes & blessings!