Take a Trip For Your Marriage

I am no marriage expert, but I am going to give you some marriage advice based on our experiences. Here it is:

Take a trip.

To add to that advice, if you have any kids, leave them at home. Not by themselves, of course, unless they are old enough for that. Rather, find someone who is responsible enough and trustworthy enough to watch your children for you while you are gone.

Laura and I have done this for several years. Jaylin isn’t completely left out, because we do take a trip with him as well. But then we also take a special trip that is just for us.

The best thing to do is to find somewhere or something that you both would enjoy doing. For us, it is the beach. Nothing fancy. No big beach excursions. No big guided sightseeing tours. No all-day deep-sea fishing. Just going out to the beach each day and riding the waves on our bodyboards. Because that is something that both of us enjoy.

But then, the real attraction on the trip isn’t going to the beach, or whatever you would choose. Instead, it is the chance just to get to spend some time together. Because time is important.

These days, it seems like we are always running somewhere to do something, often in different directions.  Our lives get more and more complex, and we often find that we have less and less time together.

So by going away somewhere so that it can just be the two of us, it allows us some time to catch up. We can talk about whatever we want to talk about. Or go eat where we want to go. Or just do whatever we want to do. And with no great responsibilities, either.

Meals are no problem. We pick a hotel with a free continental breakfast, so that is taken care of. We get something simple for a picnic lunch on the beach every day. And we go out to eat somewhere for dinner each evening.

The responsibility of taking care of our animals is left back at home, too, because we have entrusted their care to someone who can handle them.

And even the basic responsibilities of housekeeping, such as making up the bed and cleaning the bathroom, are left to the housekeeping staff at the hotel.

So there really isn’t much to worry about besides just being together and having a good time while enjoying each other’s company.

Sometimes, getting away with your spouse for a while helps you to remember why you married them in the first place. Even after all of these years, Laura and I always have lots of fun together. We enjoy doing things together, and we enjoy just being together. We can still make each other laugh, and we still enjoy some of the simple things of life.

When we go, we don’t make any big plans. We generally know what we are going to do, but we don’t set any specifics at all. For example, for our beach going we usually try to go relatively early in the morning, but then we stay however long we feel like staying each day. No set time. Nothing else to do. Just enjoying our time together.

When we come home, we always feel closer together than we had when we left. And then when the next time comes that we have to be apart, which is usually when I go back to work on Monday, it really is hard to be apart. Which to me indicates just how much we have enjoyed being together.

So let me encourage you to spend some quality time with your spouse, just the two of you, without any big responsibilities. Maybe for a week. Maybe for a day or two. Maybe just for an evening. However long you can arrange it to be.

Enjoy spending time together. I think you will be glad you did.