An Idea is Born: The A-Z of Dates

I love being a mum to my two littles ones - having them depend on me and watching them grow and develop. However, there is also something so special about the very different role of being a mum to my grown up children - enjoying them as adults and seeing their independent lives taking unexpected twists and turns.

I felt very honoured to have my two oldest girls accompany me on a girlie night out recently. We put on our make up and high heels and tottered off to our local Wetherspoon. The plan was to sample some of their Beer and Cider Festival guest beverages but after one round of Cider Raspberry Twist, they cajoled me into sharing a pitcher of some sickly tasting cocktail with an exotic sounding name.

It was lovely spending time with them and a chance conversation with Liberty has lead to an exciting idea.

When lovers become parents, everything changes. Not in a bad way. Focus shifts from the couple to the child but if you are not careful, the new focus threatens to become all consuming. I love spending time with my family but I don't want to neglect the special relationship I have with my husband. Like all things, it needs to be looked after if it is to thrive.

My daughter has yet to become a parent but she is aware that sometimes it is easy to take her relationship for granted and let the pressures of life get in the way of their enjoyment of their time together as a couple. She was talking about a scheme that one of her work colleagues is trialling in order to put the excitement and fun back into their relationship. The scheme involves a regular themed Date Night based on the letters of the alphabet, starting with A and working as simply or elaborately through to Z as budget, time and imagination permits. For example, the lady in this particular partnership organised Bed and Breakfast in Betsy-co-ed for a B Date. Her less imaginative partner had taken her for A meal!

I thought it was a great idea. I know that our Date Night frequency is likely to be sporadic but we do have the rest of our lives to make it all the way to Z.

Over the sickly cocktail, we came up with as many options as we could for an "A Date" from the romantic to the absurd. It was single Ivy who came up with idea of An Aerial Adventure and that was the example we used to pitch the idea to our partners. They both jumped on board and booking the Aerial Adventure will mark the start of our A-Z of Dates.

I am really looking forward, not just to our "A" date, but to the challenge of coming up with something special for every letter of the alphabet.