Date Night

Pre-empty nesting our social life was controlled by the kids.

Greg played travel hockey and we got to know all of his team mates and parents. For about ten hockey seasons we hung out with these people pre-game, during the game, post-game and of course there were all of the out of town hockey tournaments and hotel-room fun. Summer was soccer games and rowing regattas with Kaitlin. Jen kept us busy just keeping up with her friends and her travel. Now the kids are all independent and out of the house, we are not needed for our taxi-service or our cheer-leading. Suddenly Terry and I finally had time to spend together. For quite some time spending time together meant staying at home on the couch recuperating from all of those years of trying to keep up with the kids.

We soon realized we were in a rut.

We decided to spice things up with “Date Night.” So unoriginal I know but it really worked. We have done lots of interesting things and lots of things not so interesting but at least we are together. The premise is we alternate weeks planning something to do. I scour the newspaper for anything promising. Sometimes it has to be kept a secret or I know Terry will find an excuse not to go. If he had known ahead of time about our trip to the library, I know he would have stayed home. It turned out to be one of his favourite stories to tell. Terry has learned when it is his turn to plan we need to start out early or I will be too tired and will wimp out.

So far we have spent lots of time walking the pier of Port Dalhousie and eating out at Scorecard Harry’s. We have gone to the theatre, lectures, hikes, and once even a hot air balloon ride. While we spend time together we also meet lots of interesting people. Last night was no exception.

We headed out to join the Haunted Pub Crawl of Port Dalhousie. We started at Port Mansion where we met our other group mates. Kerry was fabulous as our group leader making sure we got to the right place at the right time and more importantly, provided us with tickets for our food and drinks. The pub crawl consisted of touring six restaurants/bars in Port Dalhousie where we were greeted at the door with glasses of beer, shots, and a food speciality of the house. At one place we even had pumpkin beer. While I probably wouldn’t order again, it did put some “spice” in the evening. Each shot had a spooky Halloween name but tasted just fine.

Our group started out very quiet and polite but at each pub the crowd got louder and friendlier. We had a great time until near the end when one our new best friends suggested we could be facebook friends and no one else would need to know. His pimp outfit hadn’t creeped me out earlier but his line and the look he gave me certainly did. The creepiness was confirmed when I found out he said something similar but even more blunt to my friend Diane…..all this while his girlfriend was in the washroom.

Other than the creep, we had a great time and another story to tell.