Impromptu date night

There are far too few movies that Darr will go to a theatre to see so when he mentioned an interest in this movie, I knew what I had to do. Many moons ago, I had the pleasure of watching Miss E.B. while the adult McMillers ran a race. After the event, they extended an offer to return the favor. So, yes, Internet, I called in that favor. (It is now quite apparent why the Godfather was so fond of these.) Henry was deposited at the McMillers around 4 o'clock this afternoon and I headed downtown to meet DH* and catch the flick. For the most part the movie played out exactly as anticipated. Liam Neeson was excellent in the angry-dad-tearing-down-Paris-to-get-his-daughter-back role. Although we concluded the crazy "I was a preventer" language was a bit humorous. Seriously? What kind of job title is that? 

After the movie, we decided to swing by 3 Doors Down because I had a hankering for their pasta with vodka sauce. There is no other restaurant in Portland that makes the dish as well as those folks do. Mmm. So frickin' good. Anyway, the bad economy meant there was ample room at the bar for us to have a drink while we waited for the food. For me, a blood orange Amaretto sour. For Darr, some type of fancy Scotch. This is only our third date since Henry was born. Three dates in nearly sixteen months. Egads. And it is clear to me that we need to do this more often to recharge, particularly after reading this depressing op-ed piece about how having kids can ruin your marriage if you aren't diligent about maintaining the relationship that got you to think about having a kid in the first place. (Turns out the old wisdom about having a kid to save a marriage was wrong. Bringing a baby into the mix can sink a marriage faster than the iceberg that brought down the Titanic.) Being in the restaurant, drinks in hand, conversation flowing was fantastically familiar. We send our heartiest of thanks to the McMillers for taking care of Monsieur Henry for the evening. We owe them, big time.

*Stands for "dear husband". I see this a lot on mommy sites but probably won't ever use it again myself. Seems cheesy.