My Favorite Date Night Question

Lately, the most regular date tradition that we've tried to implement is Friday morning breakfast at a local restaurant. It's practically perfect: neither of us work on Friday mornings, breakfast for two is about 15 RM (about $4 US) so it's an affordable date option, and very tasty. We look forward to these mornings.

Of course, "traditions" are always taken rather loosely in my world, and there's plenty of Fridays that we don't manage to squeeze a date in. I don't think we went at all the entire first trimester because the prospect of eating curry was way too much for me to contemplate. But we look forward to going out for our breakfast together.

The one tradition that Angel has come to count on from me when we're on a date is that, after we sit down to a meal and order our food, I'm guaranteed to ask him my trademark date question:

"How are you doing: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?"

And he always takes the time to answer thoughtfully in each of the four categories. Physically - How he's slept recently or if he thinks he's in good enough shape for his next race, or if he's planning to play basketball on the weekend. Mentally - What's going on with work, or if he's been contemplating a book he read recently, or if he has an idea for one of our ongoing projects. Emotionally - What he's most excited about and looking forward to, or what he misses from home, or what's been disappointing lately. Spiritually - What he's heard from God or what he's been learning lately in this area of life.

It should be noted that Angel never asks me back the same question. That's because...I naturally answer all of these questions in the course of normal conversation. Communication of what's inside my head and heart comes naturally to me (possibly why I ended up a writer), so there's less need for him to ask for this information when it comes naturally to me to divulge the information to him before he finds a need to ask. Angel isn't quite as naturally communicative, which makes this question more valuable when asked in his direction.

We've really learned to look forward to these conversations, these check-ins in the middle of a full life. I would say that the dates I remember most are the more exciting, adrenaline-filled, adventurous sorts of dates--more lively outings that don't involve sitting in a chair and eating food. But there's certainly a place for sitting down to curry and bread for breakfast and chatting about how life is going in these 4 crucial areas.

What are your favorite date traditions?