Friday Night Date

We had our own fireworks!

All points bulletin: Blogger Soldado vanishes from his site again Friday. He was reportedly last seen with a dusky, good looking woman whom close acquaintances have allegedly referred to as "Soldado's wife." According to witnesses, Soldado and the woman drove south, then turned east to an undetermined destination.

Heh, heh...Let's fill you in on what happened next. Soldado and wife ended up in a movie house with a bucketful of buttered popcorn and cheers and underdog sentiments for Maggie Peyton and--yes, oh, yes--good ol' Herbie.

I know, for a couple, we sound cornier than our buttered popcorn but we don't care. We wanted to be by ourselves. We wanted to be on a date. And we wanted to be entertained. By entertainment of our choice.

Grampa and gramma were within earshot when Soldado made the invitation to the wife. They were more than excited to take care of the house and the kids.

Long and short, Soldado and wife had a blast.

Why the sudden self-centered tale? Why, friend, as you probably heard for the nth time, relationships take constant hands-on attention to keep. Like, if you want your flowering plants to reward you with blooms, you gotta soil and cultivate and water.

The principle is simple enough and well-known enough yet many remain looking like startled deer in an approaching car's headlamps when years of Monday Night Footballs and breakfast newspapers finally catch up with them and they wonder what got between them and their loved ones.

My friend, it is exciting to get to know your spouse anew every time you take the time to give them your complete undivided attention. I promise you, where your loved one is concerned in marriage, you never cross the same river twice. Otherwise, the LORD would not get so bent out of shape whenever your eyes wander. He is so confident that his creation is so full of wonder that it should satisfy the dedicated partner. It had to be, because he requires loyalty and faithfulness. One must be sufficient. If I feel like my partner is not adequate, I should perhaps first be looking at what's wrong with me. God does not make mistakes, you know.

Not exactly off topic, that's the same one-on-one faithfulness and constant working on that God expects in our relationship with him.

Now, before I fall off my soapbox, let's get back where we got this started. Hmmm... oh, yeah. My date.

Tell you what. The "constant hands-on attention" really works. Fourth of July was still a good two days from last night but we already had our own fireworks!

God bless you.