Date Night

My parents are back in town from their trip, and they offered to watch Erik last night while we went on an actual date. We had a gift certificate for a French restaurant here, but it ended up being out of business (merde!), so we ended up searching for a restaurant or sports bar with a healthy-sized television so we could watch Sunday Night Football together. I am quite obviously not a high maintenance kind of gal. Well, we ended up at Red Robin, where they were too busy to turn the game on for us and there were LOUD kids everywhere -- not exactly a fancy dinner! Erik is so quiet that I sometimes forget how loud kids can be! However, it was fun to sit and chat with my husband like we had no cares in the world over some deliciously naughty, cheese-smothered food we don't normally eat. From there, we crossed the street to the movie theatre, where we know there is a pinball machine in the mysteriously sticky, dark back corner of the cavernous lobby. I confess I have a rampant pinball addiction I normally keep under good control these days. When I was in the valley going to school and working at the drugstore years ago, I used to stop at various stores and mini marts to play a few games on the way home. At first, it was with my boyfriend at the time, who introduced me to it, but then I started doing it completely alone. I was forever hooked. The 7-11 on the west end of the main drag had The Terminator, the 7-11 on the east end of the main drag had Dr. Dude, the mini mart by my apartment had Elvira, and the mom and pop store on campus had The Creature From the Black Lagoon, complete with holographic monster. In fact, I was in the mom and pop store so often, they would often add handfuls of credits to the machine so I could play for free for hours at a time and keep the drunken frat boys from beating it to death. These days, it is hard to find a good pinball machine, but I am still familiar with where to find some in town. We got to play The Sopranos last night. Before we knew it, an entire hour had passed in that movie theatre lobby! What fun! Erik had a great time at my parents' house while we were gone and went down well when we got home. I don't know if we have ever gone out on a Sunday night, but it really left me feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the week. It is nice to have a husband who enjoys the silliness I do. It was also wonderful to set the usual gargantuan, consuming worries we have these days aside and worry instead about how to shoot the ball up side ramp to get the plastic exotic dancers to spin on their tiny poles and whether or not we would match at the end and win yet another game.