I am a huge fan of dating in marriage. HUGE fan. I would even be willing to go out on a limb here and state that if you aren't dating your spouse your marriage will not be the best that it is intended to be. I would also say that it's going to be hard to keep your marriage healthy, devoted to each other and pure without dating each other.
I know those are bold statements, but I stand by them.
Aaron and I love to date.
Actually let me rephrase that.
Aaron and I must date.
If we didn't date we wouldn't have the marriage we have. I'm 100% convinced of that. I know it sounds like I'm bragging when I say what I'm about to say, but we truly do have a great marriage. We love each other well. We trust each other. We cherish each other. We listen to each other. We brag on each other. We listen to each other. We really enjoy being together.
One of the ways that we foster a great relationship is that we GET AWAY from our kids at least once a week and get alone. We stop parenting and we get away to just be AARON&JAMIE and not mommy&daddy. Date nights are a must in this household.
Last week we did something new for date night and I loved it! We took a cooking class downtown at Whole Foods. It was seafood night and boy did we make some fabulous food! It was fun for us since we love cooking together and really love eating good food together. We had fun and as usual Aaron did most of the cooking, and I just kept pouring the wine. It was such a great time!
So …. men go now and make a date night for your wife. What I'm about to say is a totally different post all together but if you think you're not getting enough sex from your wife then I have an idea for you. Listen close. Here's my advice. Take it or leave it. You listening? Here it is ……. Date your wife. Make her feel special. Adore her. Wash your car before your dates. Take her out. Make her feel as though there's no one in the world you would rather be with than her. Buy her a gift for no reason. Leave a card somewhere around the house where she'll find it. Do the dishes. Bring home flowers on a day other than mother's day, valentine's day or her birthday. I guarantee if you do that for your wife she'll be putting out!
Here we are on our date night at Whole Foods …
Those are the Chef's that told us what to do!
So …. here are my thoughts …. DATE YOUR WIFE. DATE YOUR HUSBAND. One day all your kids will be gone and you'll be left with this person that you fell in love with. Stay in love. Keep falling in love. It just gets better and better each year. Make sure your love is moving forward and growing and not still the same as the year you were married.
If all your kids leave the house and you love your husband/wife the same you loved them on your wedding day then you have missed out on a whole lot of love.
Okay off my soap box. Back to watching The Voice.
Wonderful Wonderful post! Could not agree more. One thing to add … Wives don’t forget to shave your legs while he is washing the car!
couldn’t agree more! 🙂
Jamie, I love how you are always such a cheerleader for dating your spouse! I totally agree!! Weekly is hard to pull off, but I think at least twice a month is great! I almost just read and didn’t commnet but then I really did laugh out loud at Shawn’s comment!!
True true true. Even in our young marriage (2.5 years) this has been huge. So thankful to have a husband who dates me. 🙂 Even before having kids, even if it’s just a walk or frozen yogurt or a netflix movie with a glass of wine, intentional time together is important! Loved your post.
(The cooking class looks fun! Will have to add that to the list!)
Love how you always encourage this! Such a great (and needed) reminder.
Love love love it. All so true!
holla!! i love this post and i love that you talked about doing it too 🙂 and i love that you went to whole foods for a cooking class. was that ‘spensive?
love love love this post….well i love all of the other ones too, but this is especially fabulous. i have been dating my husband since the 9th grade 🙂 we are going on 3 years of marriage. my favorite reality check moment is looking at him and seeing my “boyfriend” and renewing our friendship everyday. it’s the best, i actually got to marry my first kiss! ahh, it still surprises me, soo blessed 🙂 thanks for sharing your cheerful family life with us.
Loved this! My husband and I date ALL the time, and my friends just don’t understand it. They say that I am way too spoiled and no one should be taken out that much. It use to bother me, but now I just take it as a compliment. I think on the inside, they are just really jealous! Ha! 🙂
ummm…i’m NOT married, so what can you tell me about those cutie chefs!?!? 😉
ugh! another reason we love the Iveys! Such a great post Jamie.
I’m not sure how to go about making sure my husband reads this without just forcing it, so I’ll just do that. Foster kids make it a bit harder to get a babysitter as they must be ‘approved’ but I’m gonna try harder. I’ve almost forgotten my name. Sure it’s not Mommy?
Love this! We make date night a priority, too. It’s so important, and I am glad we learned that early on in our parenting gig.