Best Date [Valentine's Challenge}

I'm linking up with Neely , Amber & Casey for the valentines challenge!

Is it weird that our best date was after we were married? And it wasn't even a really planned out date? It's just one of those nights that I will forever look back on with such peace. It was a nice evening. Just me and him.

Mr. Husband is a football coach. Which means from about July to whenever the season finally ends, I never see him. There were a lot of days where I'd go to bed before he ever got home (if he ever came home), and I'd leave for work before he woke up. I don't care how much you love each other or how secure you are in your relationship, that always hurts. Being married but living like a single person. Being the only one to take out the trash, feed the animals. To tuck yourself in to bed alone every night. I missed my friend.

His team had an away game in Raleigh, our hometown. I was so excited because it meant going home to my parents house, even if Mr. Husband had to stay with the team. The state fair was in town that weekend, but we weren't sure if he could hang back with me after the game or if he had to travel back to Charlotte on the bus with the team.

Somehow, magically, he managed to stay behind. And somehow, magically, we convinced all the people who've been dying to see him, that we were going to The State Fair...alone. [side note, at this point Mr. Husband and I had been together eight years. we'd never been to the fair alone.]

Do you know what I mean if I say it was a night we were just completely in sync? No petty spats, no anger, no expectations? No arguments over what to eat, what to see. We were just completely enjoying our stolen moment together. Holding hands, kissing under the bright, colored lights. We shared dinner while walking. We shared yummy treats. We were witty and the conversation never lagged.

My friend was back. And I was so completely happy in the moment.

We didn't want the night to end, but of course it did. And the next day, we traveled back to reality, and I lost him for a few more weeks. But I always, always look back on that night, think back to how I felt the whole night. And I'm grateful that we can still get there, to that place, to that feeling, after all these years.

There have been many great dates. Dates where we were dressed fancy and Mr. Hubs spent a lot of cash. But nothing, not to me anyway, will top that night at the fair.