NT_011719

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the northbrook tower | January 17, 2019 | 3
‘We just enjoy spending time together’
GBN grad Justin Breen and
wife, Sarah, inspiring others
with date-night resolution
Chris Pullam, Freelance Reporter
Justin and Sarah Breen didn’t set out to
appear on “The Today Show” or inspire
their social media followers to strengthen
their commitments to their significant others.
They simply wanted to spend more
one-on-one time together.
At the end of 2017, the couple made a
New Year’s resolution for 2018: to go out
to dinner once a week, just the two of them,
without the kids. And 52 weeks later, they
completed their journey — but not before
picking up a few fans along the way.
“I came up with the idea because my
wife and I have a very good marriage and
our work careers are great, but we have
two young kids and life can get exhausting
at times,” Justin said. “So I felt it
would be great to go out and eat once a
week without the kids just to reconnect.
We both put a lot of effort into our respective
careers to be successful, so we put
that same level of effort into this resolution,
as well.”
Justin, a Glenbrook North graduate and
Northbrook native, owns a public/media
relations firm, BrEpic Communications,
so it was only natural that he documented
many of the dinners via Facebook. Pretty
soon, they had their own fanbase, with
followers sending them encouraging messages
urging them to accomplish the feat,
as well as a few who wanted to try the
resolution for themselves.
“It’s cool [to see that people were inspired
by us],” Justin said. “Besides connecting
with my wife, that’s been the best
part, actually seeing people doing this, as
well. I think that after you’re married for
a certain amount of time, it’s possible to
begin forgetting the reason you got married
in the first place. That this adventure
led to other couples being inspired is very
gratifying.”
With only a few weeks remaining in
2018, the newspapers began calling. Then,
on Jan. 4, the Breen’s story appeared on
“The Today Show.” And on Friday, Jan.
11, Justin announced over Facebook that
the “Steve Harvey Show” wanted to fly
the couple to Los Angeles for an appearance.
“Had a great talk with the producer,”
Justin told his followers in a post. “She
is very excited about the possibilities.
Should know more by next week if this
gets green-lighted. Taking epic to a new
epic level.”
Only a couple weeks into 2019, his
Facebook page is already filled with photos
of his friends on their first or second
date nights of their own year-long journeys.
But while going on 52 dates in 52 weeks
seems almost magical, it wasn’t easy.
Sarah Breen is a pediatrician. Justin
runs BrEpic Communications, which he
founded after leaving his post as a senior
editor at DNAinfo.
Suffice to say, simple time constraints
often threatened to derail their plans —
not to mention their two young children,
6-year-old Jake and 4-year-old Chase,
who needed a babysitter every time they
went out.
“People think that going out 52 times in
a year isn’t a big deal, but if you think it’s
an easy thing, I recommend that you try it
for yourself,” Justin said.
“Because of all the following and positive
reinforcement, missing one week
would’ve been devastating,” Sarah said.
“But that was never the point. The point
was to spend time together. There were
weeks we didn’t talk to each other except
for that night just because we were
so busy with our lives, but it was nice to
know we always had that one night.”
One week into 2019, the Breens had
kept the streak going with yet another
date night, but this time, it “had nothing
to do with the resolution. We just enjoy
Please see Date, 8
Northbrook native Justin Breen and
his wife Sarah entered 2018 with a
resolution: Go on one date each week
without kids. They completed their
resolution and are now getting national
attention for their story. Photo Submitted
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“Because of all the following and positive reinforcement,
missing one week would’ve been devastating.
But that was never the point. The point
was to spend time together. There were weeks we
didn’t talk to each other except for that night just
because we were so busy with our lives, but it was
nice to know we always had that one night.”
Sarah Breen — on the New Year’s resolution her and husband Justin
made for 2018: go out to dinner once a week, just the two of them, without
their kids.
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