“Date Night” – sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Like the title of a shlock horror movie – and believe me, that’s exactly the way it sounded when I first came up with the idea too. Date Night is an idea we came up with to help fall in love again and save our marriage and it was an idea that began, believe it or not, from a piece of advice I read in T Dub’s Magic of Making Up.

Recreating the RomanceIt might be that we were a bit farther along the road of reconciliation than you might be right now. Although we were still separated we had (after me following all the recommended inital contact steps) come to the point where we had gained a delicate friendship – and we’d both admitted to each other that we wanted to be together again. But we needed to fall back in love first.

And so, after changing some things in the original tip just a bit to suit ourselves, I came up with Date Night. And yes, my ex was as appalled by the idea at first as I was. Organised, planned dating sounds as fun as set activities on summer vacations, like following a tour guide with one of those little flags.

But the idea was, once a fortnight at first, and later every week, and in the end every Friday night, we’d go out on a date. A good old-fashioned date – just like we did when we first met. It didn’t have to be a fancy expensive dinner, but it also wasn’t allowed to be a cheapo meal at a place where we’d been a hundred times. The idea was to make the sitation, the setting, just a little bit different and unusual and make us concentrate on us. And movies were not allowed – simply because we wanted to talk, not sit and watch a screen.

And it’s not difficult to believe but, something magic happened. We both found ourselves starting to look forward to Date Night. We took it in turns to choose what we’d be doing each week and I found (and my partner did too) that I was starting to think about Date Night all the time. Planning a venue I just knew he’d love, just to get that buzz when I’d see how much he was enjoying himself. Enjoying himself with me – again.

We did some interesting things – dinners in new restaurants, planned picnics by the harbour, mini golf(!), art galleries – we even climbed over the fence of the Botantic Gardens at about 11pm and strolled around in the moonlight, just us. We felt like kids again, carefree and just having fun, and that created a space where our love began to grow again.

Now, a year later we’re happily in love and living together as husband and wife again. And we still do Date Night – just because it’s fun!

I heartily recommend the concept of Date Night to anyone who feels it might help save their marriage. It’s just one of the many tips and tricks you’ll find in the Magic of Making Up – advice that really works. Give it a try.

How to save a marriage? – You need to have a plan…

The Magic of Making Up - How To Save A Marriage

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