Planning A Surprise Date for My Husband: Two Years in the Making

A funny thing happened the other day.

My husband was reading through the posts in the Our Love Story series (checking them for any errors, he says!), when he somehow ended up at an old post I’d made more than two years ago.

It was on the cusp of my 27th birthday, and I came up with a list of 27 things I wanted to accomplish that year. Some of them were easy, some were meant to help me spread my wings, and some were simply nigh-on impossible that I'll be chasing after for years to come. (You can see all the goals on that list with a bunch of the updates I made here.)

As my husband read through that list, he came across one particular goal that never managed to get accomplished that fateful year:

#26: Plan a date for my husband. (He deserves it!)

Well, truth be told, that never quite happened. Not because I didn’t want to, but because when I’ve tried to plan surprises in the past for him, they’ve never quite turned out as exciting or as perfect-for-him as I’d hoped. He always appreciated the effort, but usually it just wasn’t what he would have envisioned the gift or the outing.

So, that goal fell by the wayside for two years, until he rediscovered it and brought it back to my attention.

Fortunately, he also pointed me in the direction of what he thought would be a great surprise—a trip to a local brewery. I don’t drink at all and my husband only has a beer every once in a blue moon, so it definitely wasn’t something I would have thought to do. But, it seemed like a neat way to get out, explore the town (especially now that we’re out in the ‘burbs!), and even learn a thing or two.

I did a bunch of research on what else was near the brewery and came across a couple of different restaurants that I thought would be up my husband’s alley, as he has recently begun eating vegan. He looked at the menus and we settled on a cute little place that is definitely nicer than our usual outing (typically something like Moe’s or Chipotle).

We got a little dressed up, drove down to the brewery (where I ohhed and ahhed over the brewery’s outdoor wildflower landscaping!), my husband sampled a couple of different beers (a blueberry and a raspberry), and we learned quite a bit about the history of this local business.

Then, since I hadn’t had anything to drink, I drove us over to the restaurant where we settled into a dark little corner and ordered what ended up being positively delicious meals (I picked a peppercorn-encrusted tempeh over mashed potatoes, which was fun, as I’ve never had tempeh before!). We both practically licked our plates clean.

Afterward, we stopped for some coffee and tea before heading home.

We’re typically pretty big homebodies, preferring to pick up a pint of ice-cream at the store and scoop it out over a Netflix movie or bring home take-out to eat before playing a board game. So this date night was pretty special for us and one that we savored.

The funny thing is that while it took me two years to finally sit down and do it, now that I have, I’ve started brainstorming a bunch of other date ideas for us—especially things like day trips to nearby towns and nature spots. So, even though I probably could go on and cross that one off my list, I plan on leaving it there for awhile, and seeing what other surprise dates spring up…

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