You Don't See That Every Day

The Mr. works more at a computer now than he did earlier in his career. He used to be out in the fields a lot more. And because he and the team he works with all plant their seats in a seat most of the day, the boss sprang for FitBits for all of them. He wants to keep his workers healthy! He also added in some friendly competition. The Mr. - being the competitive type - eagerly took to the task. He was already in the process of getting back to running; he had several months off to let his Achilles heal (pun intended!) This FitBit was just an extra push. So because there are points not only for time but also for steps, we have been taking more walks together. It gives us uninterrupted time to talk and listen to each other. The last couple of months feel like some of the best since we got married. The Mr. also had a chance to do some hiking on his day off last week. Ever since I have known him, he has been a climber - answering the call of the mountains. He was in Central Oregon last...

(( It has taken nearly a week for me to write this post. argh! Every time I sit down to write, I get interrupted. Sheesh, it's almost like I have 3 kids at home who need an education ... oh, yeah, maybe that's why. So if it doesn't flow too well, you'll know why. )) A whole week has gone by since school has started. It has gotten easier each day to send the older two off to school. Not that I don't miss them - we've just gotten into routine now, back in the swing of things: school lunches, the bus times, schedules, sports, and all the trappings of the day. But this past weekend G and I were finally able to get a weekend away. We hadn't gone away all summer; and with all his traveling, we needed some time for just us, without the kids. So we unloaded the girls on my brother and sister-in-law (who were happy to see them) and the Boy had a cross country meet away for the weekend. And we headed west. With the points G accumulates from traveling, we were abl...

Around our house there is a lot of laughter. A lot. My day doesn't feel complete if my husband hasn't made me laugh at least once. And in return it's a good day when I can make him laugh. There was the one time when we went to a grocery store while on vacation, and he decided to talk Irish the whole time. Especially at the checkout counter. Good times. Today we had to go to the bank and deposit a large sum that we had earned over the summer. And we had to get the tuition paid, so there was all that to take care. I needed my personal bouncer as I handled all that cash. So we go into the bank and thankfully! we were the only customers there. As we handed over the $$ to deposit my husband alluded to it as "the drug money." Oh my word! I am sure my eyes were shooting darts at him. And then he says to the teller, There's only one counterfeit in there. And so she obviously has to look at all the bills, and has to put them in the special machine. Oh sure, they a...

16 Things I have learned in my years of marriage 1. Laugh at yourself. 2. Laugh with each other. 3. Tell him what I am thinking. 4. Don't belittle him in public. Or at home. Or ever . 5. Let him know I need him. 6. Respect him. 7. Like his family (which is easy to do!) 8. Don't be mad when he doesn't want to be with my relatives every weekend. 9. Share the load. 10. Go say I'm sorry even if I think he should say it first. 11. Trust. Trust him to do right. Trust God to take care of him. 12. Pray for him every day. 13. When my eye or mind starts to wander, I think of him. 14. Sing him silly love songs. 15. Find out his love language(s), and do it. ( Love Languages, by Gary Chapman) 16. Let him lead the family, even if it is hard to watch. There are probably more, but I'll save those for the next 60 years of lists. Happy Anniversary sweetie!

So how do you handle stress? Some people I know wake up at 3 am and don't go back to sleep. Some people I know get cranky with everyone else. I internalize, and then I have these dreams. They are not fun dreams either. I used to dream I was driving a car, from the backseat, in reverse. Waking up from those I would realize I was stressed about something. Thankfully I haven't had that dream in a long, long time. But I guess it has taken a different shape, because I have had similar dreams in the past couple of years like this one: Last night I dreamed my husband and I were in college, but weren't married. And here we had all these kids. And then he tells me he's leaving, and I'm on my own. And I don't handle that well. (Remember it's only a dream) And then I tell him he can't go because we are married. And then, this is the crazy part this time around, I actually woke up, in a bit of a haze you know, when I was still probably half asleep, and I...

In our house conversation is usually never at a standstill. Oh, once in a while we have little freezes in our communication. But with at least 3 - possibly 4- people who really like to talk, it is rarely quiet around here. I came across this on pinterest the other day: Sometimes my husband and I 'talk' but aren't really delving into deeper issues. Sometimes - like on date nights!! - we just talk about the kids, or the same old issues we always delve into. I wondered if maybe this wouldn't be fun to try, or least it would lead to other topics.