I noticed

Last week I got an email from my Ernie. It was a meeting notification from his Outlook informing me that I had been invited to attend “Date Night”. I felt- understandably- a little swept off my feet that after all this time, Ernie would still take the time to ask me out on a date. (And the fact that he was thinking about spending time with me while he was at work, makes it even sweeter!)

So on Friday night, Ernie took me to dinner. It was a new restaurant and the food was delicious (crab cakes, baked brie, asparagus with gorgonzola cheese sauce, grilled shrimp, tender NY strip steak, you know… basically amazing.) And afterwards, we drove with the windows down and heard a band playing, so we found our way to a small concert in the park and got out and meandered until we found a seat. We sat and listened and people watched and had a very nice time.

The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, the conversation was sparkling and the music was good- but here’s what meant the most to me and here’s what I noticed. Ernie intentionally didn’t bring his phone into the restaurant. He picked a restaurant that didn’t have any televisions on the walls. He planned an entire evening that intentionally focused on me. And since my Love Language is Quality Time (and he knows it)- I got his message loud and clear. Ernie was telling me that he loves me. And I noticed. And I love him too!