First Date

The Professor and i went on a date last night! It was our first date in a looooonnnng time. Before we moved, our dear friend Sue was our babysitter. But you know how it is when you're starting out in a new town. It takes a while to trust anyone enough to let them babysit your precious BabyGirl.

Our friends Matt and Carrie heard that we hadn't been on a date since we moved to the Kingdom of the Cornstalks and were apalled. Even though they have three kids of their own, they demanded to babysit one night so that we could go out.

On the morning of the designated day, i started preparing the BabyGirl. "Guess what, BabyGirl? Mama is going on a Daddy Date!! Miss Carrie is going to come play with you! It will be so much fun! You're such a lucky girl to have Miss Carrie come play!"

The BabyGirl looked at me with wide eyes and said, "[Gulp] Scary???"

That's when i realized that "Miss Carrie" could sound a lot like "Scary." So we switched to calling her by her last name, as the BabyGirl is going through a major scary phase right now.

A second reason why The Professor and i hadn't been on a date in a long time was lack of funds. Fortunately, now we had an Outback gift card and a $20 off coupon to Applebee's.

At this point, let it be known that i don't like Applebee's. It's not a place that i would ever want to go, especially for such a special occasion as Our First Date in a Long Time. But we had recently been to Outback and i wasn't in the mood for it again so soon. Therefore, Applebee's it was. I decided to just focus on the excitement of an evening out and overlook the fact that it had to take place at a lousy restaurant.

What was lacking in the quality of the meal we made up for in conversaton. I love talking with The Professor! He's a pretty smart guy. I would submit that few can rival him in critical thinking. His well-trained mind, cultivated by years of grueling study, can quickly dissect any topic. We talked about this:

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/christian-teens-say-gay-activist-made-girls-cry.html

and this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/fashion/at-family-meals-children-encouraged-to-take-part-in-the-conversation.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1335657810-KkHcbHXo6A6hDQZDF3h5Iw

At the end of our dinner when the waitress brought the check, The Professor handed her our $20 voucher plus a credit card to cover the rest.

A minute later she was back. "Um, i hate to tell you this," she said, holding out our voucher, "but this is for Chili's."

I busted out laughing.

The ONLY reason we stepped foot in that establishment was because of the voucher. The Professor was the one who had acquired it. He had kept up with it until the proper time. He was the one who told me that it was for Applebee's. Not that i love Chili's, but i would certainly prefer it over Applebee's. He felt so bad.

Even if we did have to throw away money on sorry food with 3000 mg of sodium, i'm still thankful for some quality time with The Professor!

And apparently Miss Carrie wasn't so scary after all. This morning when the BabyGirl woke up, one of the first things she said was, "Carrie come back!"