The Date

Recently I met a man who has mastered the art of the perfect date. No, sadly, these dates are not with me. He is a married man who has taken the one night a week or month that he and his wife get a babysitter and go out for some romance and fun, to new heights. Take notes.

While working behind the counter of my local fabric store one Saturday evening (we can discuss why I have a Master's in Public Health and work at a fabric store later), a couple came in dressed to the nines. Making conversation while measuring and cutting, I discovered they had just been to a fancy restaurant and the date was now continuing here, at my fabric store. This mother of three had been completely shocked to discover that the after-dinner show was a visit to the one place her husband hated to go more than the dentist.

As we talked, I watched this man roam about the store, not with the absent look that so often accompanies husbands in a fabric store, but with a strange glee. He was giving his opinion on whether fleece or flannel would be better, if green and yellow were gender-neutral baby colors, if the stretch or the costume satin felt better, and if they might get a quarter of a yard more to be safe on this bolt but less on that one. Actively engaged with his wife, he began to comment and assist other fabric shoppers as well. He retrieved a high up bolt of fleece for the lady in the next isle, offered to look for the same pattern in another color for another woman, chatted about projects people were working on with their purchases, and went hunting for the perfect trim when the lace wasn't stretchy.

All of the girls behind the cut counter that evening were jealous and amazed. His wife was so delighted that she told every guest in the store how much her husband hated to go to fabric stores just to see them stare at her in disbelief at the most wonderful, well-spirited gentleman in the city that evening. His surprise gift of dinner and an eager, pleasant evening at the fabric store was the best date she had ever had, and many of the women in line wished for equally generous husbands.

As they left, he with a stack of fabric and she with an arm hooked under his, all of us agreed that this had to be the best date idea ever, regardless of whether it's a fabric, shoe, or sporting goods store. He had charmed us all with his enthusiasm and sincerity for his wife and the things she so enjoyed. And certainly, we concluded, his generosity would be repaid in full.

Just as soon as the babysitter was safely home.