 |
| One of the first waterfalls we hiked to in Ithaca. |
It was raining cats and dogs, we had just gotten chewed out by the tuxedo rental manager, we lost the directions and number to our yurt that we were renting, and had to call Jared's mom to help us find it---but we didn't care. Our attitudes were not affected by the series of unfortunate events- the giddiness of being just a day married was enough to keep us not caring what happened- so long as it meant we were together.
Me: Hey! How was your day?
It's been a little over five years since that glorious first week of being married. We've moved, had two children, Jared's switched jobs a couple times, and life just keeps moving faster...
Quality time often looks like sitting on the couch after the kids have gone to sleep and eating a whole bowl of popcorn. Our conversations are more often than not something like this.
Jared: Good, got those reports written.
Me: Cool, Luke peed off the porch today
Jared: Oooohhh
Or on a bad day:
Me: Hey! Today was soooo long, I thought you'd never get home--the kids have been like Moe, Larry and Curly today--and I've cried all day. SAVE ME!! And I think we need to rip the carpet out of our room asap...and the shelves need fixed because the kids kept shaking it...yada yada yada
So yeah, the blissfulness of marriage can get a little, buried in the madness that is life. Lately, I've been trying out a few little things to redeem a little of the bliss that was- and its actually much easier to attain than what you might think. Here are five things that I think make life just a little more fun :)
1. Be ready and waiting for you man at the door.
I always have done this- but sometimes for the reason of just wanting to DUMP my day on Jared. Sometimes, that is ok- but it's easy to let it become and everyday thing. I think in a way I started to let myself become over dramatic about my day- because I felt like I NEEDED him to understand how HARD it is to be HOME ALL DAY.
Let go of the day when your man walks through the door and just enjoy him being home. He's had a hard day too!
2. Take an actual interest in what he does.
Jared is a metallurgical engineer. It took my months to even learn how to say "metallurgical"--let alone understand what exactly he does. So when I would ask he would go on and on about all this STUFF and I guess I didn't try to understand because I assumed I never would. Which made Jared quit telling me about it, which made me sad. Thankfully, there is GOOGLE. I started looking different things up about what he was working on, reading articles about his company, and then using those things to talk to him about it. Jared doesn't really bring his work home with him, and doesn't necessarily want to discuss work all the time- so thankfully with a little bit of genuine listening on my part and a little extra research- I can have a better conversation with him about his work. Who doesn't like to be understood better?!
3. Make him lemon bars.
Or whatever your guy sees as a treat. Jared loves lemon bars and pies. It's always fun to surprise him with his favorite dessert on an ordinary day. If you're better wife than me, you'll not eat the whole pan the next day while he's at work and he can come home to some. ( I did make another pan to cover up the fact that I ate the first pan...but he figured it out)
4. Find something to do together.For a little while it was playing Word Crack. Sounds kinda lame but it got us through the cold winter with two little kids who cannot yet stay out in the cold long enough to do much. In the summer we like to ride bikes, camp out, watch Master Chef, and our newest thing we are going to attempt is running. Oh heaven help me.
5. Pick one of his annoying chores and do it for him.Even if you don't get it all done- he will appreciate the effort. The kids and I have stacked wood, cleaned and organized his workshop, vacuumed his car. Its always fun to see the shock on his face when we do something he didn't think we could or would do.
*Bonus* Laugh together. I love that we can just look at each other and know what the other is thinking- burst out laughing till we cry.
Five years is such a short time to be married- I still feel like we just hopped into our little green VW Beetle to drive to Ithaca, NY for our honeymoon. Here's to many more years and many more happy days!
Life is made up of little moments- treasure them!
Me: Cool, Luke peed off the porch today
Jared: Oooohhh
Or on a bad day:
Me: Hey! Today was soooo long, I thought you'd never get home--the kids have been like Moe, Larry and Curly today--and I've cried all day. SAVE ME!! And I think we need to rip the carpet out of our room asap...and the shelves need fixed because the kids kept shaking it...yada yada yada
So yeah, the blissfulness of marriage can get a little, buried in the madness that is life. Lately, I've been trying out a few little things to redeem a little of the bliss that was- and its actually much easier to attain than what you might think. Here are five things that I think make life just a little more fun :)
1. Be ready and waiting for you man at the door.
I always have done this- but sometimes for the reason of just wanting to DUMP my day on Jared. Sometimes, that is ok- but it's easy to let it become and everyday thing. I think in a way I started to let myself become over dramatic about my day- because I felt like I NEEDED him to understand how HARD it is to be HOME ALL DAY.
Let go of the day when your man walks through the door and just enjoy him being home. He's had a hard day too!
2. Take an actual interest in what he does.
Jared is a metallurgical engineer. It took my months to even learn how to say "metallurgical"--let alone understand what exactly he does. So when I would ask he would go on and on about all this STUFF and I guess I didn't try to understand because I assumed I never would. Which made Jared quit telling me about it, which made me sad. Thankfully, there is GOOGLE. I started looking different things up about what he was working on, reading articles about his company, and then using those things to talk to him about it. Jared doesn't really bring his work home with him, and doesn't necessarily want to discuss work all the time- so thankfully with a little bit of genuine listening on my part and a little extra research- I can have a better conversation with him about his work. Who doesn't like to be understood better?!
3. Make him lemon bars.
Or whatever your guy sees as a treat. Jared loves lemon bars and pies. It's always fun to surprise him with his favorite dessert on an ordinary day. If you're better wife than me, you'll not eat the whole pan the next day while he's at work and he can come home to some. ( I did make another pan to cover up the fact that I ate the first pan...but he figured it out)
4. Find something to do together.For a little while it was playing Word Crack. Sounds kinda lame but it got us through the cold winter with two little kids who cannot yet stay out in the cold long enough to do much. In the summer we like to ride bikes, camp out, watch Master Chef, and our newest thing we are going to attempt is running. Oh heaven help me.
 |
| We did A LOT of hiking on our honey moon. Something we can't wait to do more of with our kiddos! |
5. Pick one of his annoying chores and do it for him.Even if you don't get it all done- he will appreciate the effort. The kids and I have stacked wood, cleaned and organized his workshop, vacuumed his car. Its always fun to see the shock on his face when we do something he didn't think we could or would do.
*Bonus* Laugh together. I love that we can just look at each other and know what the other is thinking- burst out laughing till we cry.
 |
Five years is such a short time to be married- I still feel like we just hopped into our little green VW Beetle to drive to Ithaca, NY for our honeymoon. Here's to many more years and many more happy days!
Life is made up of little moments- treasure them!
No comments:
Post a Comment