2008 was an awesome year for us. Michael started a new job under a new boss that he actually liked and got along well with, we bought a gorgeous new house in Brookhaven, and our second little girl was born, healthy and beautiful, in December.
So where 2008 was pretty stellar, 2009 really kind of sucked. Everything got hard and without going into too much detail we ended up having to "downsize". What led to the downsizing caused a lot of stress and it's at times like these that marriages really get tested. Egos really get tested. And loyalty really gets tested. I'm not going to lie. We had our share of screaming matches. He's a red-headed, english, hot-head and I'm a foul-mouthed, liberal, hot-head so not only were these fights loud, they were often pretty "adjective-intensive". But, to our credit, these fights never involved blame and NEVER required us to sleep in separate beds. They were more a result of the toxic stress eating away at us under the surface. Committed or not, that stuff boils over once in a while. I have to say though, that in all the knock-down-drag-outs we've been in I've never questioned my choice and I've never questioned our commitment. We've been married for 5 years and we're in love. Even in the midst of the downsizing we still save money and make the time for "date night" because I still enjoy his company more than anyone's.
Last night was date night. We went to our new favorite place. We've been 6 times in as many weeks. Michael and I are nothing if not consistent. We find a place we like and we go there every time we go out until we get invited somewhere else we would have never tried on our own and that becomes our new favorite place. We do it with everything. We find a new recipe we love and we'll have it 3 times a week until we never want to eat it again. We hear a song we like on the radio and we download it to our iPod, buy the CD and put it in the car and listen to it 10 times a day until we get to a point where we swear we never liked that song and can't figure out who bought the CD for us. We find a new drink, like we did this summer (sweet tea vodka and lemonade) and we drink so much of it that (for me anyway) I feel queasy at the mere mention of sweet tea anything.
I don't know what this says about us. Are we afraid of change? Disappointment? Obscurity? Obscurity... See part of the appeal of going to the same place again and again is the "Norm" factor. Everybody knows our name. OK, not mine so much as Michael's. But still. We walk in together and my glass of pink bubbles appears from behind the bar. We decide to duck in last minute at 8 on a busy Friday and magically never have to wait for a table. We always get something for free and never ever pay our full bill. It may be shallow and it may seem highly unimportant in the midst of all the tragedy going on in the world right now, and it is, but in a year defined by downsizing, date night with my favorite man at our favorite place helps me feel a little less down.
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