Today is National Spouses Day, a day dedicated to reminding us to take time for each other. I heart my husband in a super-nerdy, love story kind of way. I want to vacation endlessly with him, spend countless hours cuddling and go on a date every night. But with work, family and other responsibilities keeping us busy, we know “time” is about quality and not quantity. We know little moments together, focusing on each other, are what keep us going strong. What does quality time look like when you’re a busy military family? Here are seven ways we have spent quality time together over the years, one for each day of the week.
Monday: Break a sweat. We go to the gym or exercise together. This doesn’t mean that we share a fitness level or a workout. But we do share time in the same space. We both feel better after we’ve been together for an hour sweating out life’s stresses.
Tuesday: Unplug. We pick a night for a cell phone time out. We stay off social media, let calls go to voicemail and leave our devices in another room. If we’re feeling extra brave, we shut off the television. It’s amazing what happens when you trade electronics for human connection.
Wednesday: Have lunch or breakfast. Neither of us has an infinite amount of time during the day. But we do manage to sneak in a quick lunch or breakfast together. Sometimes, lunch means me swinging by his unit to say hi and drop off a brown bag. Other times, breakfast means coffee together at 0430 because he is getting on the road. But we remind each other that our marriage is important by making an effort.
Thursday: Walk the dog. We choose to take our pups out together, not every day, but when we can. Some of our best talks take place on the trails behind our house. If you don’t have a dog, walk anyway, even if it’s only for 10 minutes.
Friday: Sit by a fire pit. Fire pits are quiet and romantic. Sitting by the fire is our way of reconnecting after a busy spell. It’s one of our favorite pastimes. No kiddos. No distractions. Just us.
Saturday: Have a late dinner in. Occasionally, we take a break from family dinner and share a meal alone. It’s a small gesture and requires some planning, especially with little people underfoot. But we look forward to our special dinner dates and we don’t even have to leave the house.
Sunday: Run errands together. Super sexy, right? We all have errands to run and may even prefer to run them alone. But we run them together, knowing it might be the only “out and about” time we have in a week. Sometimes that means me enduring the sporting goods store or him a candle store. But the way we see it, we are putting our relationship first and being productive at the same time.
We can’t always take vacation or spend a night away, and date nights are hard to come by when your spouse is on recruiting duty. But, we do find ways to just be together, one small moment at a time. Happy National Spouses Day – I hope you can enjoy a little moment with your spouse today.
