The Much-needed Overnight

"Marriage is not a noun; it's a verb. It isn't something you get. It's something you do. It's the way you love your partner every day."

-Barbara De Angelis

It has been over eighteen months since I have started the juggling act of going to school, working at least twenty-four hours a week, being a mom to our three kids and still trying to maintain some sort of semblance of a marriage with Joe.

I won't lie and say it's been easy.  It hasn't.  I'm tired.  He's tired.  We annoy each other with our different expectations and our different ways of taking care of the house and the kids.

This October, we will celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary.  Fifteen years is certainly worthy of celebrating, in this day where do-it-yourself divorces and friends-with-benefits-relationships abound.

Marriage certainly isn't easy, and it definitely requires work.  Like my pots of flowers which need daily watering; so, too, does my marriage.  To that end, last month I planned an overnight getaway to a bed-and-breakfast in Kentucky.  For just the two of us.  To reconnect.  To "water" our marriage, so to speak.

The place was gorgeous.  A ten-acre farm with alpacas and chickens and a well-stocked pond.

And a pool.  Where we swam and lounged and even napped while our dinner was cooking on the grill...

The chickens made us laugh as they followed us along the fence-line during an evening stroll...

The owners told us of a beautiful path that ran near the river, where we had fun taking pictures of our shadows, and the wildlife, and some waterfalls...

and the remnants of the sunset on the shores of the Ohio River.

We enjoyed a bottle of wine after taking a leisurely (without interruptions!) bath in the whirlpool tub attached to our suite.

In the morning, after a made-to-order delicious breakfast, we headed over to the pond to try our hand at catching some fish.  I caught one, Joe caught more, then we threw them all back and headed for home.

It was a short twenty-four hours, but we managed to fill it with laughter, smiles and lots of hand-holding (etc...).  We came home feeling refreshed and happy, recharged and reconnected.  Getaways like this will help us last another fifteen years and more, I pray!