US

Just another morning on the treadmill, my husband walks out the door for work. My headphones are on and I'm in the zone. He walks by and gives me the same wave I get everyday, and I wave back. It is the silent language we have come to know after the baby, and the stress oflife has seasoned our marriage.

As I run I think back to a time when a silent wave wasn't the norm. When we used to sit on our front porch after work, enjoy a glass of wine and discuss our day together. When time used to pass by so slowly and when the night came to a close intimacy was inevitable. When we used to laugh, cuddle and share the little moments of our day, anticipating the weekend. So when did we loose sight of those people and who had we become?

Somehow the strain of life slowly creeps in steals the passionate, innovative, adoring individuals you used to be. It's not that you aren't attracted to your spouse, or you don't desire them. It's just when you finally get that moment of solitude, where no one is crying, hungry, needing you.......a good book, a hot bath, and pure solitude is what you want more then anything. And so you both retreat to your silent moments of solitude basking in your own time.....alone.

You don't realize it right away because it happens slowly, and it happens to even the strongest of relationships. I can remember counting the days that it was okay to go with out being intimate with my husband. I had a magic number in my head and I knew as long as we didn't go past this number, in my mind we were "ok." Over time the number grew and I had to ask myself, am I okay with this number? Are we normal, what is normal, what is wrong with us, How do we get back to US???

It has been my experience that to become an US again you must escape, take a mini vacation, even for a day. When you come home every day, you pull in the driveway, and you walk through the door, you immediately take on the role of MOM. You can't escape it. The dishes need to be done, there is a stack of bills on the table, and your kids are needing you NOW! Because you are a responsible Running Mama you will not be able to escape your responsibilities and by the time you can even think about doing so, you are just too tierd to converse with yor husband and the silence continues.

So my husband and I took a night off, we escaped. It was amazing, once we were removed from our surroundings, we had no choice but to rediscover US. It wasn't anything fancy, it was just a night away, to escape from the role of mommy and daddy. Do this, you owe it to yourself and when your night away is over you will realize under that stack of bills, dirty dishes, diapers and the laundry........ there is always an US ............you just have to take time out to find it.