Cherise’s parents came to visit for the 4th of July. It’s always nice when we have either set of grandparents in town  – Jacob loves all of his grandparents!We decided to take advantage of the free babysitting and have a date night.

Here’s the thing: When you have a toddler who isn’t yet in preschool and you are both alternately taking care of said toddler from  dawn until dusk while simultaneously working on your career, you’re flat-out exhausted by the time the evening rolls around. You actually have to force yourself to go out (no joke. Which, come to think of it, is ironic because the first part of date night involved Cherise coming with me to watch me do some comedy, but I digress…)

Out we went. First, as I mentioned above, to my show where we got to chatting with a good buddy of mine and his wife. Then we went to Lyfe Kitchen for a quick bite to eat. We hung out and ate and watched the world go by. It was really nice. After we finished there, we started walking back to the car and found ourselves wandering around inside the Wholefoods next door (I know, we’re party animals, right? Honestly, we just love being together, so whether we’re out dancing, at the beach, the bookstore or the grocery store, it makes no difference)

By 10:30PM, we found ourselves shuffling through the aisles of Wholefoods, looking like a couple of zombies. We were SO tired!

So we went home. And straight to bed.

Some of you might be thinking: Wow. What a boring date night!

Others might understand.

Maybe you understand that we derive our enjoyment not from what we’re doing, but who we’re doing it with. Or maybe you understand that like you, we prefer to stay in, snuggle on the couch and watch a movie, or trade foot massages, or some other activity (read into that whatever you choose ;)) that doesn’t involve socializing with other people. Don’t get me wrong; we enjoy hanging out with our friends as much as anyone else – we just also value alone time where we can simply sit and be with each other without any pressure to even speak.

The truth is, there is immense value in silence. Especially now. With all the noise in our every day lives – social media, email, messages, etc… – we’re constantly connected. If you have someone who you can just comfortably sit in silence with, with no pressure to be anything than who you are, you’ve hit the jackpot.

So, yes. Our date nights consist of dinners, movies, quiet walks, and meditation. Sometimes they consist of just sitting at home and watching TV. And you know what?

I’ve never been happier.