Date Night

As I tweeted a couple days ago, Bridgette & I got the opportunity to, as our babysitters said, "be adults" on Friday night. These babysitters just happened to be our co-pastors at Liberty, John & Becky Hart. It was a wonderful opportunity for Bridgette & I to get away and, in a small way, do a few things that just don't happen when you've got a young child, let alone two. Our little "date" included a trip to a couple of Bridgette's favourite places on earth. First, it was Barnes & Noble, and particularly, the 'Bux inside. All of the sudden, Bridgette has become addicted to that little black beverage. Not that she has it every day. As a nursing mom, it's acceptable but only in moderation. But she wants it everyday - and usually in that $4-a-pop, iced-blended, frappuccino kind of way. So, off we went to B&N & the 'Bux to enjoy a drink and browse some books. The amazing thing - we NEVER hit the kids section. Not even just to peak. We looked at adult books! Not the "adult" books that require you to be 18 to read, the adult books that would simply bore a 2.5 yr old because there's no pictures. We hit the bargain bins and looked at some classics. We hit the fantasy section where Bridgette perused her Star Wars books and I looked for Katherine Kurtz, who I fell in love with when I was in JH.

After an hour or so we sauntered on over (as much as you can in a car) to the Cheesecake Factory - where we were greeted with the news that at 8:30pm, a table for two could be 15-25min. I was slightly pessimistic about our chances of waiting less than 30 minutes, but I was happily proved wrong. We then had the opportunity to enjoy some delicious dessert, which I augmented with a little Remy Martin, my first ever experience of Cognac. Which I have to admit, proved not to be my specific style. But we had a great chance to sit and talk about the kind of stuff we don't sit and talk about a lot in our family room, amid the clutter of toys and dishes and laundry. And for that reason alone, we were EXTREMELY thankful for the gift of our pastors. In the end, this was an amazing example of servant leadership - and if they can be servant leaders, it makes it a lot easier for me to do it too...