I begged. I whined.
I offered to pay. I did everything I could to get the Carpenter to go to a Toronto Rock lacrosse game with me.
Finally, he said yes.
Last Saturday night we watched the Rock win the eastern division title. It was one of the best date nights of our 23 years together, side by side from section 120, row 8.
You may wonder why this required such pleading on my part. Simply put, the Carpenter is not a fan of the sport. It’s just not his thing. I respect that.
But it is my thing, and he respects that too. Because he knows me better than anyone, he appreciates that I like lacrosse for more than the adrenaline of athletic men in shorts with big sticks. Sigh.
He accepts that I truly enjoy the speed, skill and brutality of the sport. I make no apologies for that, because lacrosse is a rough sport, which makes the level of skill and talent all the more impressive.
One of the keys to our relationship is that the Carpenter and I do very little together, and when it comes to our diverse interests, it’s okay to go it alone.
For the past three seasons I’ve gone to Rock games with our son and had a blast.
But this was the division final. This was serious. Do or die. Win or lose. I needed my man by my side. No, I wanted him there.
The minute the Rock made it to the playoffs, I bought tickets. Oh, I had a plan, all right: date night.
I seduced my spouse with the promise of a sleepover in a luxury hotel, without the children. I lured him with cold beer. I promised to wear the good underwear.
I was the kind of wife I’ve read about, but rarely lived up to.
I must have done something right because the Carpenter not only agreed to go, he borrowed a Rock jersey for the game.
The Carpenter in a Rock jersey: this is our idea of foreplay. Don’t judge. It worked. Plus, I am very superstitious, so I knew this guaranteed the team a win.
It took the Carpenter about five minutes to realize why I am a fan of this team.
In heart-pounding action, the Rock defeated the three-time defending NLL champion Rochester Knighthawks 11-8 in Game 2 of their two-game series and smoked them in the tiebreaker game by a score of 8-2.
My man and I cheered, waved our fan towels, enjoyed beverages, and I think I even impressed him with how much I genuinely love the sport.
Ladies and gentlemen, we even shared public displays of affection more than once, which is almost unheard of in our relationship.
Most importantly, we lived in the moment. And what a moment it was. Could this date night get any better?
So basically, I took my spouse on a date to watch muscular young men pummel each other with sticks and the hardest ball in sport, paid for the tickets and beer, broke out the good underwear for the post-game show, and all the Carpenter had to do was wear my team’s jersey to the game and show up.
Now that is a rock solid marriage.
Good luck in the finals to Coach Lovell and the Toronto Rock!