One of the big cliches that many couples are told before getting married is the importance of continuing to "date" each other for the rest of your lives. And it's a cliche for a good reason: It's true. The moment you've committed to spend the rest of your lives together is not the time to get lazy and just assume that it's a done deal. Any why would you want to, if the dating process is part of what made you want to be married in the first place?
What January and I have found so far is that it's one thing to agree that you need to continue to date each other, but it's a completely different thing to follow through and do it. There are full-time jobs, friend- and family-related obligations, and chores -- at the end of the day it's hard to think of fun, creative ways to spend time together I can't even count the number of times we've agreed to go on a date, only to decide to just order a pizza and watch a movie in bed.
While it is nice to have those evenings dedicated to relaxing together, that's not a date. January and I decided earlier this month to make a more concerted effort to come up with real ideas for good dates. We don't have an exorbitant amount of cash at our disposal for lavish nights out on the town, so while our dates aren't going to be very well funded, we're hoping to make up for it in creativity. A few weeks ago, for example, we were mulling over the idea of a day-trip somewhere fun. When we factored in the cost of gas, food, and getting someone to keep an eye on the animals, the expense added up quickly. So instead of a day-trip somewhere a couple hours away, we opted for something a little closer to home: A day-trip to German Village.
If you're not familiar with the greater Columbus area, German Village is a historic neighborhood just south of downtown, and about a 15 minute drive from our house. I lived in German Village for a total of about three years, one of which was while January and I were dating, but neither of us had really spent much time there since we moved to Clintonville in 2007. We started the afternoon off by heading to our favorite German Village Deli. No, not Katzingers. I'm talking about the Brown Bag Deli. One of the greatest things about being married is that you never have to decide on just one option when you go out to eat. Most of the time when we go out, we end up splitting whatever we order, and this time was no exception: Ben's Black and Blue, the Village Addiction, and a couple of orange cream sodas filled us right up. Afterwards we spent a little time in Schiller Park and stopped in at the antiques store at the corner of Whittier and 3rd before continuing up to the north end of the Village, just looking at the houses and doing a little people watching. After an hour or so of looking at the beautiful houses, we ended up at the Mo Joe Lounge where we split some Jeni's ice cream.
All told, we managed to get out of the house for the bulk of the afternoon, spent some good time together just relaxing and catching up, and only spent around $20. There are neighborhoods like this in just about any city that can be fun to "visit" without the commitment of a long drive, lots of money, or an overnight stay. The key is to get creative with it; When was the last time you spent some time in Grandview or Old Town East? Get to know your city better while spending time with your spouse.