Best Thing Ever: How to Get out of the House on a Date for Free

We have this great thing going with another couple in the neighborhood. It’s a date night swap, and it’s pretty much the best thing ever. 

Here’s how it works. They have a baby, we have babies. One Saturday a month I go to their house at 8 pm after their baby has gone to sleep for the night, and they go out on a date. Then the next Saturday one of them comes to our house and does the same for us. No one has to shell out for a babysitter. Each couple gets a regular date night. Everyone is happy! 

There is nothing like a date. We feel sort of like teenagers, D and I, skipping through the lamp-lit streets to a cozy restaurant, no strollers or babies, sharing a bottle of wine, candlelight, dessert. Seeing each other clearly without the distractions of home. Having an uninterrupted conversation. I know I don’t need to sell anyone on the idea. 

But I have to say, going to someone else’s house to babysit while their baby is asleep is enjoyable in its way, too. Yes, I admit I’ll take whatever “me time” I can get. The first time I went over I remember joking, “I could call my husband on the phone. Isn’t that what babysitters do? Talk to their boyfriends?” We laughed at this image of a teen babysitter on the couch, the cordless in the crook of her neck, painting her toenails. But seriously, how sweet is life for that teen? I can appreciate that now. Once on my babysitting night I watched the first episode of Game of Thrones. Another time I watched Miss Universe. Ah, sweet vegging bliss. Once I composed a blog in one sitting, with no interruptions. 

I’m telling you, I’m almost hesitant to move because of this. Hope we can find a family in Pittsburgh interested in the same!

 

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