The Couple That Plays Together Stays Together

I am not a fan of tired, trite sayings that could have been pulled from the cover of some insanely obvious guide to self-help. No sir.  "You Are What You Eat"..."Actions Speak Louder Than Words"..."The Couple That Plays Together Stays Together."

Quite frankly they lack creativity AND they are not true. Case in point to the above - I am not a creamy hunk of chevre,  actions cannot, by their very nature, speak and I know a lot of couples who played around plenty, but have since parted ways.

Or in reference to the last saying, and the title of this post, there are couples who don't really have time to play and DO stay together. 

Like my husband and I.  We met about eight years ago, married very soon after that and now have three children ages 6 1/2 years old, 3 years old and almost a year.  Throw in two jobs, two dogs, three cats and an aviary hobby into the mix and there isn't a whole lot of play time to be had. 

Sure.  When we first met we hiked mountains, birdwatched, traveled, went to the theatre, cooked together, browsed in quaint little shops and generally enjoyed our down time together. But judging by the simple math equation above, our courtship was rather, shall we say, abbreviated.  Cut short by the demands that come along with having parental responsibilities and...stuff.

But I started to think.  Play we have.  Just in different ways.  We now take our three kids hiking...to our public state parks, not techincal mountain trails.  We travel with our three kids...to Santa's Village theme park, not snorkeling in the Keys.  We go shopping together with our kids...to BJ's instead of those cute little stores.

And now this shape-up challenge.  We are doing it together. And it's different.  No kids.  Just us. OK.  I don't know if these body-breaking workouts can be considered play, but it is something that we are doing just for us.  Maybe even a little selfish.  But it feels good. 

Almost a little like play.