Date Night

“Let’s go, quickly, while he is sleeping”, the husband said. And so we rushed out of the house, eager to make a most of this golden opportunity.

As parents to a five month old boy, our previously untamed lives had undergone a total metamorphosis. We used to be big on weekend outings, catching every random movie which would come out, meeting friends, long walks and going to our favourite eateries.  However, today we had to meticulously plan every tiny outing, whether a cup of coffee or a short drive. Date nights were effectively a thing of the past.

Not that we were complaining- both of us loved being parents, and we had managed quite a few outings with our baby in tow. But this new love of our life came with certain obstacles to some quality husband-wife time, which needed a lot of effort and planning to overcome.

So after ages, the stars had aligned in such a manner that the boy slept off at a time, which was conducive for a dinner date. And we seized the opportunity, as soon as it landed on our lap.

“Pizza?” the husband asked. I gave a big smile and nodded. I hadn’t eaten pizza in ages, but the reason for my smile was not that. Pizza dates with the husband were always special, because our first official date involved pizza, garlic bread and masala lemonade.

Three and a half years, and countless dates later, our order at the restaurant remained much the same. We chit chatted about the baby, but also about childhood memories, old friends and potential vacations. We laughed and giggled, made fun of each other, reminisced about our very first date, and how much life had changed. 

We had a leisurely dinner, unable to fathom our good luck that not a single call came from home. It was too good to be true. Well, almost. Just as plans for dessert were being made, the phone rang- we were summoned home, as the boy had gotten up. 

“Well it couldn’t have been perfect”, the husband said. I smiled back and said “This was as close as it could be”. And after quickly paying the bill, we rushed home. From being just husband and wife for an hour, we were back to being parents. 

In my five months of being a mother, I realize that parenthood can be hugely challenging to a marriage. It takes lots of effort to be husband and wife, to take out time and energy for each other, when your child requires you to be parents 24*7. But this short and sweet date with my favourite pizza partner, gives me hope that perhaps the husband and I will do just fine. 

https://housing.com/.

Of being a guest writer

Over the past two weeks, I have written two blog posts for two veryyy different blogs. I shall be immensely immodest and say that I was invited to do the two posts - fancy much!

CSR is an organisation I interned with three years ago, for four months, way back when I was engaged. It was a dream job, where I got paid to write and waste my time on social media- utopia! Well, except for the money ;) Anyhoo, so the boss from CSR pinged on Facebook the other day and asked me to write a post for their new initiative "Write with us"on gender based parenting. Thus "Raising a boy" was written. As soon as it went live, an acquaintance pinged me on Twitter and asked me to write for "The Earrings Project", which she had started a few months back with a friend. I had found it super interesting since and had been meaning to write for it for quite some time. And so "The Wedding Gift" happened.

The point of this post is not to advertise my writing (although, comments would be greatly appreciated!). I had a super fun time thinking and writing both these diametrically opposite pieces and it made me realize how therapeutic writing is for me. I mean yes I like the appreciation which accompanies it sometimes, but at the end of the day I love writing, by itself. I love putting my thoughts to words, I love seeing a blog post take shape. Since I turned mom, writing provides a much needed mental break from mom-hood, even if I am writing about my baby.

Here's to more guest posts, blog updates and maintaining sanity!