Weekend Plans Post: Preparing for Date Night
There was a meme floating around on the twitters that said something to the effect of “let’s go on several dates over the next few days so that it’s not so awkward when we go out on Valentine’s Day”.
Now this is one of the things that I see from time to time that makes me so freakin’ glad that I’m looking forward to celebrating my 21st in October (holy cow!!! The marriage will be old enough to drink!). I once heard someone say something to the effect of “marriage is like running a small non-profit” and that’s one of those jokes that you laugh at for a second before knitting your brow and saying “yeah, that’s pretty accurate”.
Being married, day-to-day, isn’t *THAT* interesting (I mean, blogpost-level kinda interesting). There are dishes to do. There are clothes to wash. There are trash baskets to empty. Sure, there are occasional animalistic-level dates that happen at strange hours of the day (as in any office) but most of the back-and-forth is between people passionate about a common goal rather than people passionate about each other.
Which presents fairly closely to boring people talking about boring subjects.
“The phone bill is paid and the energy pill is paid.”
“Awesome. Thank you.”
“I’m flying out to visit my friend in (coastal city) come (upcoming holiday).”
“Do I have to do anything?”
“Nope.”
And we’re back to the regular routine of the week until someone has to drive someone else to the airport.
But Valentine’s Day is one of the days where it’s expected that people Make An Effort. And not just Make An Effort but Do Something that makes every single one of their single friends feel jealous for a couple of days instead of feeling something involving different trade-offs.
As such, I’ve got a week to worry about that sort of thing.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Date Night in DC” by Derek Key. Used under a creative commons license.)
I’ll just note that this year, it will take very little effort for my coupled friends to make me feel jealous 🙁
I know being married often isn’t that great, but some days, it would be nice to have someone else there to do the grocery-shopping occasionally, or, when you have 18 bazillion meetings in the coming week and are despairing of even getting the laundry done, is maybe perceptive enough to do a load of laundry.
(And yes, I know: in some municipalities you can apparently pay people to do that for you. Where I live there isn’t even “order online and pick up” for groceries, and I don’t know if a laundry service operates, even if I were comfortable with the idea of a stranger looking at my nethergarments.)
Me? I have eighteen bazillion meetings next week. I am questioning all my life-choices. I want to run away and be a hermit. I don’t know if I’ll survive this week. I am already giving myself permission to cry in at least one of the meetings if it gets to that point.
no, seriously: I have 2-3 meetings EVERY SINGLE DAY between Sunday and Friday. On top of my other work.
If this is what adulthood is, I see why the much-maligned Millennials and Gen-Z are “refusing to grow up”
So, “weekend” means: I’m going to be spending Saturday writing an exam for next week and working on the manuscript I’ll have no time for and Sunday – well, that’s two of my too many meetings right there.Report
Holding non-prayer meetings on a Sunday? That just ain’t right!Report
Well, one is “Pastor-Parish Relations Committee,” meaning really: the people who like to complain show up and complain about the pastor, and those of us on the “board” have to placate their feelings. And the other is a board meeting for a campus ministry I am on (That own will be a lot less woeful; it is generally a pleasant group and they do good work)
I am totally buying myself something nice if I make it through this week without crying in public.Report
I think we have a dinner guest on Saturday. I’m not entirely confident of that though.
Sunday we’re going to a cirque du soleil ice show.
Our travel plans to Brazil are finally feeling real. I’m having to say to people at work “I won’t be able to do that for you in March. If it can’t be put off to April, we’ll have to see if my colleague has time.”Report
No the cirque show is next weekend. I was confused.Report
Obviously, the really important question is whether or not we’ll still be climbing next Thursday? 🙂Report
Oh, yeah.Report
FIL’s 80th is this weekend, so we’ll be doing that. My wife and daughter made a cool barnyard scene out of marzipan to go with the barn cake we had baked for him. (He’s a farmer.)
Contemplating flying to Ireland to see Joe Jackson play in Cork. He’s got a great new album out, and I’ve never been to the ancestral home, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone.Report
And, of course, I spent Friday sick as a dog.
Maribou’s theory was that I’d spent the last 4 months saying “you can’t get sick, you can’t get sick, you can’t get sick” and, now that I had leave to do so, finally getting nice and sick.
But I think I’ll be okay by Monday. (I already feel better now.)
Yay. Weekends.Report
Running my first session of D&D in a month due to scheduling conflicts and illnesses.
It’ll be hard to top the last session, where a party of four 4th level PCs straight wrecked an equal number of vampire spawn. The dice look after children and fools.
As for Valentines Day, I’m coming around to the opinion that being single on Valentines is actually extremely good. No last minute scramble for flowers and reservations at restaurants with ridiculously expensive price fixe menus.Report
In a way, yes: and you don’t face the pressure of “what if I give the wrong gift” (or for women, primarily: “What if I don’t ‘put out’ in the ‘right’ way?”
But I dunno. I am just feeling it really hard this year, the constant swimming against the tide, the always having to rely on my own damn self for all the errand-running and the chores around the house and everything. I get that Not All Couples, but the models I saw growing up – my parents and their friends, and other relatives – the two partners split the household tasks and stuff.
It’s also hard not to have someone else to focus on, so when things are woeful on the job, you don’t even really have anything else to think about.
I think also turning 50 the end of this month means I’m hearing the eternal footman snickering extra hard as he holds my coat this year…Report
I paid the bills and I did the taxes and I showered and I put away one basket of laundry and I read all of Kiese Laymon’s very fine and very difficult book _Heavy_.
More than that has so far been beyond me, but there’s still whatever part of Sunday is left after I wake up.Report