#doubledate

When you first get married, there's a period of adjustment. It's a very cozy adjustment. You live in a little cocoon of love and Netflix, and as long as you don't have to work over the weekend, you usually spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday holed up in your apartment.

At least, that's how it was for Stephen and I. I had just started a new teaching job, and he was taking all kinds of rigorous science classes, so we loved having our weekends blank. It was lovely to have a whole two days of mundaneness and only caring about one other person's happiness. 

Eventually, though, we started to get restless. Should we maybe try to be social? You will ask. Are we missing out? You will worry. 

The answer is yes. 

So we dove back into the dating world, this time operating as one unit in search of other restless couples that we could date. And that, too has been lovely. 

A whole world of dinner groups, murder mystery parties, free concerts, potluck picnics, rock-climbing trips, and game nights exists out there! And as long as you don't lock your keys in the car, you, too can be apart of it. 

Except, even when you lock your keys in the car, some good couples still let you be apart of this world. 

A few weeks ago, we went on a date with our friends Sara and Russ. We met up with them at Rita's, and as Stephen was getting out of the car and pressing the lock button on the door, he failed to notice the keys sitting on the seat behind him. 

Thus began a night of adventure involving the following cast:

the wife: who kindly doesn't get upset about the keys

the husband: who also kindly doesn't get upset about it

*It's easier to not get upset when you're meeting up with someone and how embarrassing would that be if you just sat there huffily, annoyed about some uncontrollable circumstances.

the date wife: who immediately starts calling people to help, even before they arrive at Rita's 

the date wife's grandpa: who agrees to let us borrow his break-into-cars kit that he has because of his questionable past - except not really because he's actually darling and has probably never done anything as bad as breaking into a car that's not his own 

the date wife's grandma: who is SO CUTE and who tells us her conversion story while we sit in her living room, waiting for the grandpa to real the manual and pick the right tool for Sabie's make and model

the date husband: who eventually just takes the whole kit and promises to bring it back when we're done

Back at Rita's, we met.....

the first or second date couple: who sat and watched with a mixture of pity and excitement, while they ate their Italian ice. They had had no idea their night was going to be this exciting.

the ex-cop: who left his gelato on the table and asked if he can try when he noticed us fiddling around with all the tools, and then when he didn't get it to open, called his friends and told them to come save us! He is aka the Good Prov-aritan. 

We tried everything. And when I say we, I mostly just mean Stephen. He tried everything.

Eventually, just as our new friend was telling us not to worry about it and that someone would be getting there soon to help, it happened. Stephen managed to hook one of the tools on the key ring, and lift the keys up from the seat. Slowly, we used the keys onto another hook, and slid them out of the window, and the day was saved!

This could have turned into a much longer saga. In our excitement at getting the keys out, we accidentally left one of the pryer-opener tools on the windshield, clamped down under the windshield wiper. I didn't realize it until 45 minutes into my drive to school the next morning, so thank goodness it didn't go flying off. 

The moral of the story is: always date other couples. You never know when you might accidentally lock your keys in the car. 

And the other moral is, always date Stephen and I. We know how to make a night exciting.