Category / newlyweds

by Bethe

Summer bucket list

I guess all married couples have running “things” – not really an inside joke, but that thing you say to each other where you both nod in agreement and probably nobody else would understand (reason #726 why I love marriage). For us, we like to say that we need to “add that to the list” which means it’s a date idea, recipe we want to try, or otherwise fantastic idea that us planners can’t wait to try.
Once we try it, if it’s really fantastic (and only the most amazingly awesome things make the cut), we say we want to put it on the “repeat list.” Things that have made our repeat list include dates at Cowboy Chow, cooking homemade chopped barbecue sandwiches on open-faced cheese buns (I know your stomach just growled), and a homemade frozen strawberry lemonade drink that I adore even more since I was forced to give up carbonated drinks six months ago. Only the most special items make the repeat list.
After a date night discussion about what we wanted to do this summer, and inspired by our imaginary ever-growing list and Pinterest, we came up with an official summer bucket list which is currently posted on our refrigerator.
I made a pretty one like this, but it’s too hard to read, so I’ll retype it below:
1. Swim (check, check, check)
2. Watch fireworks (this weekend)
3. Picnic
4. Bike Ride
5. Watch a sunset
6. Go to the lake (check)
7. Leisurely dinner on a restaurant patio
8. Cousin visit
9. Go to Will’s mall (there’s a backstory to this that I’ll share someday)
10. Ride the train to Dallas
11. Eat dinner on our porch
12. Discover a new restaurant
13. Cook a brisket
14. Watch Harry Potter (the new one)
15. Lose 15 pounds (aka – Project 115)
16. Eat at Cowboy Chow (like I said, one of our few repeaters)
17. Cheer on the Rangers (check)
18. Compete in a triathlon (Will… check)
19. Date night on Trinity Trail
20. Spontaneous ice cream date (twice checked)
21. Use our crock pot
22. Eat Argentine food (Will spent a summer in Argentina)
23. Eat Columbian food (we fell in love with their food last summer when were were there for a week)
24. Eat Indian food (check)
What’s on your summer bucket list? Maybe we missed something…
by Bethe

Oh, true love



You know you’re married when you have this conversation…

“Honey, come over here and let me hug you before I go get sick.”
Ahh, yes, the romance is still alive.
Mr. Right loves to tease me with little surprises – he’ll send me text messages throughout the day to tell me he has some surprise or other waiting for me when I get home. He loves to tantalize me and make me guess, never revealing any hints or clues, because he knows it drives me absolutely crazy.
I love it.
Yesterday was no different – I got a text late in the afternoon letting me know I’d be coming home to a surprise. It was just about the same time, as I was sitting at my desk, that I started to feel a bit puny. I was worried that the sickness I have battled all year was coming back, much to my dismay, since I’ve been so healthy for six whole weeks and was finally feeling confident that my new meds can be a long-term solution. But there was no mistaking that the feverish, achey, crummy feeling was returning, and it didn’t look good.
And then it got worse, as I walked to my car in the 100-degree heat. And worse as I ran to the grocery store to get our healthy-diet essentials. And as I checked out… I knew it was about to get ugly.
So now you can picture the scene – I come home, and my sweet husband has hand-picked the most gorgeous sunflowers, and sitting next to it is another one of his amazing love letters. I was almost in tears, it was so kind. Except I knew I was about to lose my lunch.
Welcome to marriage, and all the realities it brings. Thankfully I think I just ate something bad, and don’t think I’m coming down with that stupid sickness again. And once I had gathered myself again, I was able to thank my sweet husband for his thoughtfulness, and then ask him to make me some oatmeal so I could eat something while laying on the couch.
That’s true love.
I’ll tell you what else is true love. Waking up at 3:45 a.m. on a Saturday to go watch your husband run a triathlon. That’s a full four hours earlier than I normally wake up on Saturdays. But I did it because I love him and because I really like that his favorite hobby also keeps him healthy, and because I don’t mind a good excuse to see him wear spandex head-to-toe.
Mr. Right did GREAT at his race, and I was brimming with pride for my triathlon-competing man. I also LOVED the people watching that goes with any sort of race – they bring out all kinds of characters. I can happily say that running in a triathlon will NEVER make my bucket list because (1) I don’t like to get my hair wet, (2) I haven’t worn all spandex since I retired from cheerleading, and I am happy to leave those fashion-days in the past, and (3) it takes me a really long time to get ready, so rushing around in the “transition area” to switch from the swim to the bike, or the bike to the run, just seems stressful and unnecessary.
And so I will be content to go watch my man compete instead, while I sit in my lawn chair and sip my morning coffee.
PS–I have to confess that I have missed my first two workouts of the week. The first, because I was exhausted from the weekend (not only did we have the triathlon, but then we drove straight to Oklahoma for a whirlwind trip to visit family, and then drove back home at 5:30 Sunday morning). The second, because I was still a bit nauseous from last night. I cross my heart and hope to ice cream that I WILL get up tomorrow at 5:30 for some P90x cardio. There, now I feel better.
PPS–I know what you’re thinking… I’m not pregnant. I feel I have to throw that out there anytime I mention feeling under the weather.