Where was your last date?

I was sitting at my desk last week when my new boss came over to the Admin Assistant, who sits across from me, and asked her if she was single. At first she did not know how to answer this question since my boss has only been with the company a few weeks. Seeing her hesitation he said “Just come here for a minute. Michelle, you come too you should hear this too.” Not sure what to expect, we followed him over to the desk of the Manager of our Technical Support team (let’s call him MTS).

Boss: “Now tell them what you just told me.”
MTS: “Well my in-laws are in town for a few weeks and my wife and I took advantage of them being here Saturday and went on a date.”
Boss: “Tell them where you went.”
MTS: “Well, we had some things that we needed to pick up, so while we didn’t have kids along we decided to stop at Target on the way to dinner.”
Boss to the Admin Assistant: “Now if your boyfriend looked at you and said we’re going out to dinner and then took you to dinner how would you react?
Admin Assistant: “Well that depends, is he buying something for me?”
Me: “Now, wait a minute are you saying you’ve never had a date with your wife that started out with running some errands.”
Boss: “No. My wife would never go for that.”
MTS (a little apologetically): “Well it was my wife’s idea.”
Me: “Don’t feel bad my last date with my husband started off at Wal-Mart then moved to Burlington Coat Factory to buy some shirts for my son. Only after doing some shopping did we stop for dinner.”
Boss: “You’re joking, right?”
Me: “No. Actually we have a running joke about a Christmas Eve date we have a few years ago. My parents had taken the kids, so we left to go out to dinner. On the way out we decided to check for one last gift. That stop took longer than expected, so rather than go to a restaurant we stopped at a carry out for dinner. We ended up eating subs sitting in the car in the parking lot that night.”
Boss: “And you’re still married? For how long?”
Me: “Yes, 14 years. But we were out without children and that’s what matters right?”
MTS: “Yes. I’m with you. It’s not about where you go, but that you go there together without children.”
Boss (to the Assistant): “Agreed, but if your boyfriend looked at you and said let’s go out on a date to Target; how would you react?”
Admin Assistant (laughing): “Well, after this conversation with two people who have been married for a while, I think my answer should be: Sure! Apparently that’s how happily married people start their dates. Maybe I’d become one of those happily married people”

I don’t know about that, but most of our dates the last few years start off with some sort of errand or school meeting first. I hadn’t realized that till this conversation took place … I think I’ll repeat this conversation to my husband. See if I get a date that is just a date out of it or if he just laughs and says “See it’s not just us.”