How We Renegotiated the Friday Night

For five years after our first child arrived, we kept trying to do the date night. Babysitter, restaurant, lipstick, the works. And every single one of those nights ended with one of us falling asleep in the Uber or both of us scrolling our phones across a small candlelit table.

We'd been told date night would save us. Date night was killing us.

We invented the lobby

On Friday nights now, after the kids are asleep, we sit on the floor of the upstairs hallway with a bottle of wine and a small tray of snacks. We call it the lobby because it's right outside their bedroom door, in case anyone wakes up. We don't try to be romantic. We try to be present.

It has been the best thing for our marriage in a decade.