Finding time for us

Being a family with two working parents can be tough. Mark and I get limited time with Colin during the week so most mornings, evenings, and weekends we focus on him so much that we end up losing sight of ourselves and us as a couple.

Recently it hit me that I was missing something from my life: alone time with myself. To remedy that, I joined my local YMCA. I go early in the morning and either run or take a fitness class. It is blissful. It's so refreshing to have time where I'm just me. I'm not "mama" or "hon" to anyone at the gym :) I can't tell you how much it helped my mood. I'm handling stress better...I'm in a better mood...my tush is tighter. It's a win-win for everyone - ha ha!

Since I've carved out some time for myself, I turned my attention to finding time for Mark and I to be alone. We work for the same company which just so happens to give all employees 40 hours of Volunteer Time Off each year. That's 5 days a year when Mark and I can hang out together and help our community while still getting paid (!!!!!!!!!!!!).

So earlier this week we volunteered together at a local Goodwill store. We were able to talk and joke around while sorting through racks of clothes. At lunch, we talked about our hopes for the future. It was just what we needed: time to just be together. We also decided to have regular lunch dates - yay!And bonus, we didn't miss any extra time with Colin like we would have had we gone out on a Saturday night.

I can't figure out how it took us 15 months to realize we have all this extra time right under our noses that we weren't utilizing!