Movie night

It's at home date night with Autumn... Movie night!

She's putting the kids to bed while I write tonight's entry.  I love listening to her read to them.  Three happy voices, wafting down the stairs to brighten my night.  It's awesome.

I also love movie night.  Since becoming a stay at home dad, we've dropped a source of income.  Obviously right?  Had to cut the budget a bit to make it work.

What's not so obvious to many folks, is that you can still have lots of fun, even if you have voluntarily cut your income in half.  Dates don't need to be expensive dinners at fancy restaurants followed by movies in crowded theaters where the tickets cost over 10 bucks each.  Plus, does anyone really need to buy and then drink that giant popcorn bucket which in turn necessitates the camel sized soda?

Good dates can be had at home, on the couch, without a baby sitter.  You just have to stop everything else and focus on the one your with to make it special.

Robert Heinlein said "Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own" and he's got it right.  Although, it is easier to find happiness if your in love and spend some time thinking about why your in love.

I'm in love with my wife at this moment because she is on the twentieth round of twinkle twinkle little star, singing it that many times to make sure sweet little Elliott is sound asleep.  Quinn goes right out, but Elliott needs a few stories and some singing.

I'm also in love with her because she actually looked up all the other versus and memorized them.  It wasn't enough for her to sing it twenty times over.  By God, she was going to make sure she sang all the versus and they were right when she sang them twenty times!

I love that she cares about that kind of little stuff.  Elliott probably wouldn't know the difference, but she does.

I'm in love with my wife because she has character.  Character (for those of you who don't know) is what you do when no one is looking.  No one would ever know if she screwed up the versus, and it's not the kind of thing that will send our son into therapy as an adult... But that doesn't matter.  She's going to give him the time he needs to fall asleep and she's going to take the time to make sure she has the song right.  Character.

And I'll admit that I love my wife because she is a character.  Seriously, she cracks me up most days.  I probably tease her too much, but she takes it in stride, laughing with me.

And I love her because she doesn't need a fancy dinner and expensive dates.  A movie on the couch will make her happy.  Which is good, because as a stay at home dad, I no longer have a paycheck to fund the fancy dates.

So there you go.  Tonight it's movie night.  I hope Hangover II is as good as the first one.  Tomorrow it might be a few cards games.  What we do probably isn't as important as just focusing on her for a bit.  reminding her why I love her.  That's what makes her happy.  And her happiness is the essential ingredient in my own.  

That's how I know it's love.

(I do wish she had remembered to pick up more popcorn though.  And yes I'm going to tease her about it!)