This week Tom and I have been quite busy with the wedding of  our dear friends’ daughter.  It was so much fun, but sobering, as this is their last child to get married.  They are officially “empty-nesters”.  We have vacationed together, home-schooled our children together, and lamented the difficult times together.  We have attended the same church for decades and soon they’ll be moving to another state.  It seemed appropriate for us to meet them for dinner tonight (two days after the wedding), to share stories, reminisce days gone by, and to reflect on the amazing things God has done in our married lives, and in our grown children’s lives.  They have 5 grandchildren and we have 4.  Needless to say, we didn’t really have a “date night” to share with you.

So, this is the perfect time to share with you a date our son and his wife recently came up with.  I’m calling it Mystery Date because you literally have no idea where you’ll end up.

Photo by Aubrey Reel

Here are the rules:

1.  Decide ahead of time:  Heads = right; Tails = left.  And then choose a number between 1 and 5.  Keep this number and right or left in your mind.  You’ll need it in step #4.

2.  At every intersection flip a coin to see which way to turn. Do this 5 or 10 times.  Decide ahead of time how many times you’ll flip.

3.  After the final toss – take the number you selected in Step #1 count the number of restaurants you pass, and whether you flipped right or left.  When you get to your number on that side of the street – STOP.  This is where you’re to eat. You could make it a meal, or just an appetizer or dessert.

4.  If the place is unacceptable you could always take a mulligan. How do you take a mulligan, you ask?  Oh, you have to buy one of course, by removing one piece of clothing!  😉

So there you have it.  We think this is a date you’ll both “flip over”.

Note: The mulligan part, we made up ourselves to add a few more options that are fun!  If you take too many mulligan’s you may not care to eat out!

When was the last time you planned some spontaneous fun together?  Can’t remember?  It may be time to give it some thought and enjoy the “wife of your youth!”  Want to join Project 52?  It’s a year long challenge to date your spouse once a week for a year.  Simply Modern Mom came up with the idea, and you can push the button below for all the details!

Do you like our blog?  Then won’t you consider voting for us on The Marry Blogger website? They are currently taking nominations for the Top 10 marriage blogs for 2011.  The finalists will be posted after November 24th where you’ll be able to vote again to be named A Top 10 Marriage Blog.  We appreciate each and every one of you!  They will ask for our URL – it’s http://theromanticvineyard.com  Thanks!