Quiet evenings together are the best

Yesterday evening, Tuesday, was date night for me and Rebekah. Every week we set aside at least one evening for a "date", with the strong message that - irrespective of 30 years of marriage - she's certainly the woman I'd be asking out. So I do.

We don't always go out anymore - dates can be at home too. Sometimes I'll prepare a dish from the ongoing "gourmet initiative" and we'll watch a good movie. But yesterday was busy busy and so we headed to our favorite "comfort food" establishment, Mimi's. I ordered the "just enough" dinner that included the entrée, French onion soup, and custard filled beignets for desert. And - one advantage of not being 25 years old and terminally hungry all the time - it really was enough!

Then we walked the mall. It's been a while, so I was impressed with some of the new store-fronts and new vendors who have come in to replace last-year's huge crop of bankruptcies. Impressed, that is, until I realized what is being sold. It seems that t-shirts are now the "happening" item, and just about every other store was dominated by a never-ending supply.

Who in the world pays elite mall-level leasing rates, builds out a brand new store with all the frills, and then stocks it with t-shirts in hopes of making the rent?

Then - and I know this isn't politically correct but what the heck - just about every t-shirt on sale is constructed in such a way that it would only look any good on sizes "skinny through petite." And, I've got to tell you, walking around the mall yesterday evening maybe less than 20% of the population even qualifies anymore!

So we laughed, and watched, and spent a half hour in the card store looking for graduation cards for kids from the church, and walked, and shook our heads at outrageous t-shirt prices, and held hands, and simply wandered like a happily married couple who can't think of anything any more exciting to do that to simply hang out in one-another's company.

So that was it; dinner followed by a leisurely stroll, window-shopping around the mall. But, I've got to tell you, three or four hours of concentrated Rebekah time - no cell phones or interruptions... it simply doesn't get any better.

Gotta go - I have to subsidize this blog with paid work on the side!