Day Twenty-Four

Written by in Celebrations

Our conversation at dinner included things like this:

“I’m ready for the next adventure.” “I’ve been stuck working in my little box for too long.” “I want to go out and do more things outside of our house.” “It’s time to do more things, just like early days.”

Dinner was sushi, which was delicious. It was also takeout. It was true – all relationships need to be stoked up and kept fresh. It is hard work, so they say. And yet it’s not really “work”: nurturing a relationship isn’t a household chore or a task in a corporate job. It is being present, engaging, connecting. Just that conversation makes me feel enthusiastic and makes me feel more connected with Charla, now a week away from our wedding.

Sometimes, ironically, it is the quietest moments when I feel that connection the most. I type these words in a silent house, in our bedroom, with Charla fast asleep, the girls at their other parent’s home, and the dog happily chewing on… something. Hopefully not chewing on someone’s sock, which he will do from time to time.

Except for the squeal of a passing siren, the only sound is the ceiling fan.

One day, I stood outside our house at 6:30am having just dropped Juliana at school. The sunrise turned the clouds a fiery red, pink and purple, the air was crisp and clean, and the street so quiet that I could hear the commuters on the freeway five miles away.

At that moment I felt so glad not to be one of those commuters. It is so easy to fall into the rut of routine, obligation, schedules and chores. It happens to everyone.

We are sensitive to that and are itching again and again for our next adventure. Where and what will it be? It may in fact be our hometown. And that’s great because ultimately our real adventure is discovering, and rediscovering, us. Over and again, each time as if it were the first.

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