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When our children were little, it was hard for John and me to find time alone together. We tried to schedule "date nights" for ourselves, but it was never easy to leave our kids. We knew that it was important for us to stay connected and keep our romance alive, so we made this time a priority. I always thought that it would be easier for us to find time alone together when our children were older. I was wrong. They are more independent, but it still takes effort and energy to plan time for just the two of us to be alone together.
Recently, John and I were coordinating our calendars. After we filled in our work obligations and family events and volunteer duties and meetings, we were ready to close our calendars. We both realized that we had not included any "couple time" for the entire month. We decided, right away, that we needed and wanted to make time for ourselves. We looked at our calendars and chose a couple of evenings that we would save for each other.
We even went a bit farther. We chose a weekend when we could get away and decided on a nearby location. We made reservations and our plan is set. I am looking forward to having an extended period of time when we can relax and talk and enjoy being together.
I know that many obligations may tempt us to cancel our plans for our date nights and our weekend away. I also know that, no matter what, we will each hold these commitments to our marriage sacred. If we put a date for each other on our calendars, we treat it the way we would treat our most urgent and important meetings. We show each other how much we value our relationship by making time alone together a priority.
