Day 21: A date with my 4 year old

Andrew has a hard time separating from me and as a result, it is nearly impossible for me to put him to bed. It seems to be easier on him to have daddy do bedtime. So, when we can, Daddy does nap too. (This helps nap to continue to happen).

Needing to leave the house, I packed up Eddie and took him on a date. The two of us went to Denica's cafe. We bought a flower shaped sugar cookie decorated with red sprinkles for the petals and a white center. We found a cozy booth and sitting across from each other, I unpacked his new game -- Cooties. I remember Cooties being one of my favorite games when I was around his age and we happened to find a brand new box of it at the thrift store for $3.

We spent an hour there, eating our cookie slowly and playing the game. Each of us had an invisible gas man filling up our tanks. We needed some good time together and this was just the thing. I keep a journal of all my fond memories of the kids and of course wrote up a detailed description of our special outing to keep in my heart and to share with him when he's older.

We often think of dates as quality time that we spend with our romantic partner and don't make as much space for dates with other key relationships. But as I reflect on dates, they almost always fill my tank and the person with whom I share the moment -- dates with my mom, with my kids. They are a moment to pause. To stop everything and say -- You are important to me. Worth my complete attention. Worth the resource to splurge and do something extraordinary.

I don't go on enough dates. How much love and light could I bring into the world by stopping and taking time -- just an hour even -- and telling people that God has placed in my life that they are loved and important. I perhaps could do myself and the world a whole lot of good by slowing down and buying a few more red sprinkled cookies.