Part two of my dating in the city blog series. If you recall, I am taking time to date my husband of 17 years, taking whatever opportunity to reconnect.
20 years together, three children adopted, two dogs, many jobs and some comedy thrown in, let’s just say our life gets busy. Marriages take work, so we are putting the focus back on us in however we can.
After our breakfast at Zolas we were ready for an evening date. Our two challenges are money and “can the kids handle being home alone”. They are teenagers now, but the three of them left alone together can often lead to poor choices and chaos.
I had two comedy gigs at Yuk Yuk’s Ottawa on March 17th, and asked Josh to come. He balked at first; after 20 years, watching me do comedy hardly constitutes as a date anymore, but when he heard who else was on the lineup he jumped at the chance to go. Turns out two of our very good friends were also on the show and we have not seen them in ages. So double date?
We sat the kids down, told them the dire consequences of them acting up and off we went on our date!
We looked so good! We arrived and performed at the first show. Oh, it was St. Patrick’s Day so our date was surrounded by drunk people. The shows were fun (they always are) and then our friends left and we had our second show. It was a date so we snuggled and shared popcorn, but in the end it’s hard to reconnect when it’s just watching me do my work. So we left to the second location…
We dropped in a local open mic to support one of my student’s in my Comedy Confidence for Women. She was first up when we arrived. Noting it was not very romantic to again have him join me while I am working, we decided to end the evening at Shanghai. What is better to reconnect than eating dumplings while staring into each other’s eyes? Nothing, it would be perfect!
As soon as we arrived we noted there was Karaoke which is unusual for a Friday. China Doll saw us and yelled “hey everyone it’s Jenn Hayward” and they all cheered. I felt like I was at a surprise party, but no, it was an event that I just happened to know 90% of the people there. I get around, and I guess am somewhat of a public figure. Sort of…so while it’s nice that everyone knew my name, it was again not the intimacy we sought.
We listened to a few songs, downed the dumplings and went home. On the way home we talked. Meaningful talk that brought us closer.
Sure the entire night was fun, not really a romantic date but is reconnecting all about romance? No, it is sometimes just being together and not talking about the kids or the stresses of entrepreneurship.
I am tickled that I have a few places in Ottawa that everyone knows my name, but not sure they are the best locales for dates for us. Especially as it is me who is out and connecting and being “public”, that when it becomes all about me, it becomes less about us.
So we Hayward’s are looking for some new spots to connect. What fun (and not expensive or comped) things can we do in this city? Will fully blog about it, so be aware of that! 🙂
We continue on, and again he asked me not to talk about our sex life in this series, so all I say is that if I was allowed to, there would be PLENTY to talk about that night!
Also floss.