Katharina Buczek
This 36-year-old man and his wife, who’s 39, have been married for six years now, and they have three young kids together.
But, while their relationship has been fine in the grand scheme of things, there have recently been some more stressors in their lives – including job insecurity, his father-in-law passing away, and one of their children receiving a behavioral issue diagnosis.
“This has put a huge strain on our relationship, with many ups and downs,” he said.
However, earlier this year, his mother-in-law actually gifted both him and his wife tickets to a show that they’d been dying to see for his birthday. On top of that, his mother-in-law offered to babysit their kids while they went out for the evening.
He thought this was a wonderful gift, and it was finally his birthday just the other day. Given everything they’d been going through in their personal lives, he figured it would also be the perfect opportunity to go out on a “proper date” with his wife. He tried telling her that, too.
“Dress nicely and go to dinner with drinks afterward. We haven’t had a night like this since our twins were born, so I was really excited,” he explained.
Then, on his birthday, he tried to make sure everything was in place so they could enjoy a night away from the kids. He picked up his mother-in-law, purchased pizza and snacks for the children, and made a dinner reservation.
His wife, on the other hand, was still just sitting on the sofa only one hour before they needed to leave for the show.
“Knowing that she takes a while to get ready, I asked if she’d be ready in time, and she said yes,” he recalled.
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