I recently read an article published by Women’s Health Magazine about couples who cherish their time spent together. The article really hit home for me, as I had been thinking about this topic for quite some time. My husband and I have been married for going on 4 years, and we have a 3 year old daughter. What this means for me is that I sometimes miss the times we spent together before my daughter was born. What it means for my husband is something totally different.
A little backstory: my husband and I used to work for the same company, which is how we originally met. We would spend our time after work hanging out at each other’s places ordering pizza, watching Netflix all day on the weekends, and taking day trips to wherever. Those days after a long day at work were my favorite. We lived right around the corner from one another; I’d get home, shower, and walk over. The Netflix and chill was real back then. We might have walked to the diner to grab something to eat, and then went back and relaxed for the rest of the day. We literally did nothing, but I loved it.
A few days ago my husband said, “I really miss when we used to do nothing all day but watch movies and hang out.” He felt me; I missed it too. Now, Netflix is bombarded with toddler screams of Paw Patrol and “Mommy, what are you doing?” every 30 seconds. Literally. I don’t dare watch a movie or show that I might be interested in actually hearing when my daughter is awake. That would be a complete waste of time because I’d just have to re-watch it later when she goes to bed at night.
I don’t mind that. I do, however, mind that while entertaining my toddler has become a priority, my husband might feel a little neglected. At first, I thought we needed to plan out date nights while our daughter was with a sitter so that we could spend more time together. How else could we be alone? It wasn’t until I read WHM’s article that I finally understood we didn’t need all of that.
The one thing happy couples are comfortable doing together is nothing.
Wow. Here I was thinking we had to get our daughter to a sitter to spend time together, when we could have been spending time together (at home) all along. Just because my toddler wants to only watch Paw Patrol, doesn’t mean that I have to sit there wishing I wasn’t. That is time my husband and I can spend together doing nothing, just enjoying each other’s presence.
Now, it’s not Netflix and chill, but Paw Patrol and chill and enjoy life with the love of mine.
If you want to read Women’s Health Magazine’s article, click here.
