In my Date Night: Laissez le bon temps rouler post, I shared how my last “outside” date night with my husband ended up being a comedy of errors. One of the many things that I love about my husband is that he rarely makes the same mistake twice. He planned this date out perfectly. (Next time, it’s my turn to do the planning.)
There has been a lot on both of our plates life-wise lately, so we did one of our favorite “brain candy” things – watched a movie. We went to see Chris Rock’s “Good Hair”. My husband (who LOVES Chris Rock) was surprised that I wanted to go see the movie. Me too. Anyone who knows me knows not to get me started about issues in the Black community like light skin/dark skin; good hair/bad hair; etc. There’s just so much history there that I didn’t feel like it could adequately be discussed in a short film. I was right, but I enjoyed the movie anyway. There were parts that made me laugh. My husband and I are still marveling about how women can afford to get $1,000+ weaves every couple of months. Some parts made me think. God knew not to give me a daughter. I’m so NOT good with doing hair. I was spoiled growing up – my older sisters or a beautician did my hair. Other parts made me furious. There was this part in the film where this Asian man said that he didn’t want to sell African-American hair because it might spread “sickle cell”. What?!
At the end of the movie, I was talking to my husband about what irritated me the most about the movie. (Poor Reggie…he just thought that the movie was funny.) Anyway…it made it seem like Black women were the only ones with hair issues which is SO not true. I have friends from all different racial/ethnic backgrounds and every single one of them has (or have had) hair issues at some point in time. Women of all races color, perm, relax, and/or wear weaves in their hair. It’s a SHE thing, not just a Black thing. It’s just that Black women’s hair is more politicized because of historical issues. Also, for some reason, people feel free to say the craziest things when it comes to Black women’s hair. I remember one of my great friends (who happens to be White) running her fingers through my hair and saying, “Oh, I love to run my fingers through your weave…” Excuse me?! Since she was my friend and I knew that she was just “special” that way, I lovingly informed her that she had better not EVER say or do that to another Black women unless… (My hair was not a weave… which made the incident even funnier.) For the record, I never have and probably never will wear a weave. I’m too cheap for that (which makes my husband very happy especially after watching the movie!).
After the movie, we went to eat some Mexican food before picking up the kids. I love Mexican food – especially the chips and salsa. It’s the little things in life that make me happy. Chips with a hint of lime….yum!
In any event, I’m really excited that my husband and I have been pretty consistent this year with having our outside date nights. I think that it’s important for us as a couple. I also believe that it’s good for our kids to see us spending special time alone together. When I mentioned that we were going on a date, Michael asked, “Again?!” That’s good. It’s important for them to know that they are a big part of our lives BUT that they are not our entire lives.
So, how has it been going with you? Have you been “bringing date night back” with your significant other?