The other day I got to thinking about an article I wrote earlier this year where I wondered if recession might actually benefit our marriages. I had visions of turning the concept into a mini-series. Alas, so far I only offered suggestions on ways to recession-proof your marriage with dinner.
But recently I was reminded about this forsaken series of articles I’d planned to write. Thanks to our trip to Alaska, we’ve been trying to conserve resources. Therefore, more and more I’ve been considering ways Wayne and I could spend quality time together, be active and have fun, yet not spend much mula.
Here’s a list of some ideas I came up with that you might also find useful.
1. Enjoying Nature
After watching the older couples on the path recently, I was reminded of an activity Wayne and I used to do a lot when we lived in Arizona: hiking.
Now that the weather’s fixing to turn mild and not be so dang blistery hot, we should take advantage. There are tons of nice park paths and trails around us. It’s just a matter of us getting off our duffs and enjoying!
2. Volunteering
I think I’ve only volunteered with Wayne twice –one Christmas when we went to sing carols at a nursing home and during a running race. For some reason he wasn’t partaking in the race for a change, but he had signed us up to hand out water. It was a hoot. Both times were actually.
I’ve been wanting to do something like that again. Either helping out at a shelter, a hospice (namely, the one my mom was at), or maybe even getting into the swing of this political year. We could head to our party’s campaign headquarters and pitch in however they may need us to. Or we could go help out with the candidate we’ve both decided to back. (Luckily we’re once again voting the same this year.)
3. Armchair Traveling
We both have the bug to travel abroad, but there’s two major roadblocks: (1) money, and (2) he’s Mr. Latin America and I’m Ms. Europe.
Recently, thanks to Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Romancing the Ordinary, I thought of a new way to work out our problem: A date night to the library where we collect books and DVDs highlighting places we’d like to go. One trip is dedicated to someplace he’d like to see, the next trip to somewhere I’d like to visit.
Then we study them together. The purpose is two-fold: (1) It satisfies us until we can actually get to those places, and (2) when we are finally able to go we’ll have done our research. And maybe, just maybe, along the way I’ll become more interested in the far off lands he wants to see and vice versa.
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