Date Night: A Cruise of Boston Harbor & the Charles River

On Friday night the two of us took a cruise of Boston Harbor and the Charles River. That’s right, I said two of us … just the two of us … without Arielle. Whoa.

Since Arielle came along, finding time for date night has been a little difficult. While I know I’m not saying anything any other parent wouldn’t emphatically nod their head over thinking, “been there, dealt with that,” as Covid parents, we’ve had extenuating circumstances for why it’s been hard.

Yes, I said Covid parents. You’ve heard of Covid babies, children born either during or right before the pandemic, but a few months ago I realized that we are Covid parents.

I don’t know if this is actually a thing, but to me, Covid parents are those who are learning how to parent for the first time during Covid. Arielle was born in May of 2019. Because I had to have a C-section that whole summer was not only learning how to live life with a baby (and without sleep) but also healing. Then my sister’s wedding was in October 2019 and I was helping her with that, then it was the holidays, then the chill of winter set in, and then the next thing we knew we were all under lockdown.

All of a sudden everything was shut down and we were living in a world that was very different from the one we had grown up in. We were unsure if or when things would ever return to “normal.” As schools remained closed we questioned whether Arielle would ever know a traditional education or if she would be doing her school work remotely like Mama and Daddy were doing.

Would she be able to play with other children?

Would she only know people by their eyes and miss out on their smiles?

Would she have the opportunity to make friends?

These were just some of the things I worried about as we navigated her first words, her first steps, her curls growing in, her first zoom call, running, jumping, first full conversations and lots of Mickey Mouse.

We didn’t really have time for date night because we felt we were too caught up in playing catch up.

Starting last summer was the first time we felt comfortable going out for a date. But at that point I was launching a new part of my business that was actually born out of the pandemic and Alex was buried under project after project. And now I have so much work I cannot complain about being busy because I feel so blessed! So finding some time just for the two of us hasn’t been easy.

It’s not like we don’t have built-in childcare. My mom is available almost 24/7, acts as daycare for Arielle, and has often stepped in last minute after hours to help us out. I know how lucky we are and sometimes it feels like we have an obligation to take her up on that offer because we know there are so many parents out there that don’t have that kind of help.

So last Friday night I left Arielle with her and headed in to Boston to meet up with Alex for a cruise of the Harbor and the Charles River on The Belle. Technically it was a work event for his company, so not exactly a night out for just the two of us. But the ride along the waves in the harbor and past the sailboats on the river was so relaxing.

Alex and I spent most of the cruise at the bow. He watched me snap pictures of the city skyline and the setting sun, while we sipped on sparkling water and noshed on pizza and cookies. We missed Arielle, often talking about her as we sailed on, but it was nice for us to be able to spend some time together without having to “parent.”