A Date

On Saturday instead of being a good Latter-day Saint woman and going to the RS broadcast, I went on a date with my husband. It's hard to turn down a date when we haven't been on one for a month and probably won't again for another month.

I didn't want to go, though. The day had been chaos. I was frustrated with Rob. Last minute things came up and I even said, out loud, "Ugh! Why does this day even exist?!!" Rob, I'm sure, knew that I didn't want to go. Not because he was picking up on subtle clues, but because I wasn't being subtle at all (Tamra? Subtle?). I looked at him and said, "Why are we going on this date? We should just send the babysitter home and stay here."

Rob is wise. He took me on a date anyway.

We went to Applebee's cause someone gave us a gift card for Rob's graduation. Ate for $2 out of our pockets. Which is good, cause I didn't like my meal $12 worth. The $2 out of our pockets was closer to my enjoyment level. The dinner was slightly awkward (and not because a young man in our ward works at Applebee's and we didn't know it, and then they seated us right next to him the whole night. Weird, but not awkward), because we were both still a little tense. Gotta admire Rob's determination, though. Still a goofball, even when I'm sour. By the end of the dinner, the bulk of the tension was gone.

And then we went to downtown Cincinnati. Why? Because we've lived here 5 years and have never explored downtown! That's shameful, and we knew it, so we remedied it. Parked along the riverfront and walked a few miles around the arenas and up and down streets. Heading nowhere but enjoying our conversations and mutual love for Cincinnati. We talked about wanting to stay here our whole lives but not knowing if that will be how it turns out. About how much we love the skyline, the general feel of the city--a "big" sleepy country city, a pleasant contradiction of a place to live. About history and slavery and bravery and homelessness and flowers. About anything and everything.
And then we came upon Fountain Square (that's a picture I found on-line, by the way. It's not mine). Rob commented that it's one of those places that you take tourists but never really venture yourself. But for the first time ever, we did go ourselves, and lots of other people went, too. We happened to go on a night when there was a music festival going on. Midpoint? Something like that. They highlighted some local bands and musicians, and they were actually good. I was pleasantly shocked, and we listened to several songs. Before we walked on I hugged my husband and said, "Thank you for taking me on a date."

Past some buildings with eagles perched over rounded stone blocks. Past a man kneeling on a rug, shoes off, next to a taxi. Past a man rushing down the street, stopping to ask us for a light that we didn't have. Past rows of beautiful plants including decorative (and edible?) peppers. Past an artistic tribute to steamboats with signs telling some of the steamboat-era history. Down to our car, parked on a slanted parking lot that disappears into the river.

We ended the night by eating ice cream sundaes that we assembled and ate at home.