Romance the Parker Way

Jeff and I did indeed celebrate Valentine's Day in our own special way. With two little ones under the age of two who are on decidedly different sleep schedules and two parents who've not had a "normal" night's sleep in seven weeks it was looking a bit dicey for anything more than a kiss over the head of a needy toddler begging for "Mommy up! Up! Daddy up!" (which means, somebody pick me up now!).

With the help of some sweet friends we were able to ship off our night owl for a few hours and sneak in some grown up time after Bennett was put to bed. (Thank you Clint and Lisa!) We enjoyed a lovely, candle lit Italian dinner of homemade foccacia dipped in olive oil, a glass of red wine and pepperoni rolls from our favorite local pizza joint.

And the pizza rolls were good, my friends.

Dessert was melted chocolate and every dip-able food we could find. Strawberries, apples, pretzels and marshmallows made the list. You know you can't go wrong with a bowl full of melted chocolate. I could probably eat my chair if it were dipped in chocolate.

We snuggled on the couch and talked and talked with no interruptions. It reminded me of the summer we fell in love. We spent many nights sitting together, talking about everything and nothing all at once as the windows changed from black to gray to blue and we had to pause our conversation to go to morning classes.

Nine years later I still love to sit with him, hear his dreams, see his heart and recognize again that the more I learn about him, the more I love him. It was like were those two kids in Waco all over again. And then we realized our friends might want us to retrieve our daughter sometime before the sun rose.

It was a wonderful evening. No crowded restaurants, no pressure to plan the best date of the year, very little money spent.

Just time with my favorite guy, doing what we enjoy most...being together.

With pizza rolls. And chocolate.