Weasles and Hard ...

Have you ever had days when the things that happen are inexplainable and are simply outrageous? I had one of those days recently that still is fresh on my mind. It looked like this...

Saturdays is my day to do things around the house and for my family. My husband is usually doing something in our yard or in our home as well and we kind of help one another out with big chores.

Well, the day started with me making plans to do the laundry. I gathered it all up and got it sorted in the laundry room. Everything was going very well until I opened up the washer and noticed something in the bottom. It looked like clothes so I went to pick it up. And then I started to laugh. Here I had forgotten some underwear in the washer 2 weeks ago and lo and behold it had grown super duper hard in there. LOL Oh my goodness! Did it feel awful! I had a moment when I thought it might be halarious to try them on but the idea quickly passed as I thought of the rough hard material against my husband's skin or mine.

Once I had the laundry in (and yes, I did rewash the underwear), I began to do some cleaning - a little dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the bathrooms. There was nothing unusual about what I was doing. I had done this many times before. But for some reason, I found myself picking up a bottle and dropping it or stubbing my toe or knee or...It just was wild how much time I spent picking up after myself!

I finally had to sit down and just chill for a while. I found myself just needing a break from my own self.

Sometimes we move so fast in our lives that our bodies and minds get tired and don't work as well as they usually do. I think that is why I forgot the clothes in the washer and why my balance was definitely not what it usually is . I always KNOW that it is time for me to take a break and do a little something nice for me when the things I touch and do are not coming easy.
I am excited about this next year because it is going to include encouraging people to take retreats. With this is going to come the beginning of us opening our home here for that very thing. So, if you are in need of a break, let me know and I can set you up with a room :).

I believe that our creativity is fueled by how much we are nurtured and rested. And we can only go so long before we find hard underwear in our washers!

So how do you rest and nurture yourself on a regular basis?

Oh, and by the way, when you are resting, it is a nice gesture, when the husband runs into a cat downstairs with a weasle in its grips, for him to not tell you in any way that there could be a sharp tooled creature in your home prowling around (until it is gone :) Thank heavens for rest support!

Keep resting and creating!

The Marriage Partnership

Marriage...It definitely works best when you approach it as a partnership! Let me explain.

My husband, John, and I have been married now for over 7 years. We are a unique couple in that we both are strong artists and have strong wills and ideas but we approach things very differently. In fact, we come from opposite sides of the river!

John is very much the kind of person that watches carefully and does not say much. He mulls over the idea he has for a long while and tests the waters many times before deciding anything. He is very careful and very sure before he goes ahead. He is a writer and a analyzer.

On the other hand, I am the kind of individual that likes to take action. I tend to do things all the time and to think only for a short while before doing. I like to make things happen and get things accomplished and see things change. I like to lead and to inspire and motivate. I am the director and the actor.

Since we got married, we have been learning how to be together and to work together as partners in life. We both hold the philosophy that a home works best when there is someone who makes the final call on decisions. Because a man is able to separate his feelings from fact easier than a woman, especially when the stakes are high, we believe that it is wiser to keep the man of the house as that final say.

When the man is naturely the leader and takes charge of things and likes to make decisions in his home and in his life, it is quite easy to put this philosophy into practice. However, when the man is more laid back and tends to take his time with decisions and think things through and act slowly (like in our house), for a woman of action, this can get very frustrating like it did on Thursday.

So we had a little talk about it...

In our talk, John brought up the metaphor of an actor and director in rehearsal. He said he feels like an actor and director have a relationship much the same as a marriage. An actor comes to the rehearsal knowing that the last call is the director's. However, he still comes with choices and ideas and puts them into play until the director says something. And a good director wants the actor to have ideas and to bring them to the table. He wants to collaborate and come up with the story together. In the same way, John told me that he wants me to share my ideas and put things into practice. He does not have to approve of everything. And he agreed that it is up to him to say something if he thinks a choice is not working in our home.

I thought it was a great metaphor. I honestly had not thought about marriage like this before. But my question still was how can a woman of such strong desires and ideas and will put her choices into practice without running her family and her husband over?

There seems to be a thin line between making choices and acting upon them and expecting that the choices be accepted all the time. For someone who has not been encouraged in her choices very much, I'm scared to get used to this freedom! LOL

Well, I am certainly grateful for a husband who wants to see me empowered and wants to know my thoughts on things. I am glad for that. And I am going to work on putting my ideas into practice without his opinion. And if I want to have his thoughts on something, I will work on asking him gently before acting. I know that John will tell me when it is not going to work for him and that is something to be thankful for indeed!

How's your marriage partnership?