“Five……Five……Five Dollar Foot Long”

One morning this past week I was in the bathroom while Cameron was brushing her teeth.  She wasn’t aware that I was watching her because I was busy picking up clothes off of the floor and cleaning off the counter.  She was standing on her Dora the Explorer step stool staring in the mirror at herself , concentrating intensely, and saying, “Trah-peeeee-zeeeeussss.”  I asked her where she heard that word and if she knew what it meant.  “I learned it at Stretch and Grow,” she said.  And she even showed me where the trapezius was by pointing at the area between her neck and shoulder.  I think she just liked the way it sounded and so it got stuck in her head.   She must have repeated the word 15 times before I finally said, “Cameron, let’s get moving.”  

As every couple knows, it is next to impossible to stay connected to your spouse once children enter the picture.  I don’t care if you have one or eight kids.  It’s REALLY difficult.  And I don’t use all caps that often so you know when I do, I REALLY mean it.  Greg and I have struggled with this just like every other couple with kids out there.  A few years ago a marriage counselor encouraged us to make dates for intimacy.  At the time I thought that sounded like the least romantic thing in the world to me, but we tried it and it has been somewhat successful for us.  So after a little dry spell, Greg and I had scheduled last night to “re-connect” <wink>.  (Mom, this is where you might want to navigate away from this page.)

You’d think that we’d light some candles or, I don’t know, just sit on the same sofa together in an attempt to ignite just a little spark between us.  But once the kids went to bed last night, we sat downstairs in the family room as we normally do – on separate sofas,  watching television, with dueling laptops.  He was playing poker and I was reading other blogs and posting some things to the site.  We sat together comfortably, occasionally interrupting what the other was doing to talk about the kids, the dogs, the Olympics, and I shared my story about Cameron from the other morning.  We laughed together at the thought of little Cameron repeating the word trapezius over and over and over.  There is nothing better than sharing stories about your kids with your spouse.  As kids often are in marriages, they are most definitely the glue that holds Greg and I together.  Even though we may clash over parenting styles on occasion, we are intensely proud of our kids and will always share this bond.  

In the couple of hours we sat in the family room together, I didn’t actually count but we must have heard the Subway commercial I swear at least 20 times.   It’s the one where they sing, “Five……Five……Five dollar foot loooonnng.”  Needless to say, it got stuck in my head.  It got to be after 10:00 and Greg decided to head on up to the bedroom.  I said, “I just want to post one thing.  I’ll be up in a little bit.”  Uh-huh.  Famous last words.

Forty-five minutes later I ascend the stairs only to find him in bed with all the lights out.  I say, “Hey, are you awake?”  “No!”  It’s a sure sign I’m in trouble when he is clearly awake, but says that he is not.  We ended up squabbling over our individual definitions of “a little bit” the entire time I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed.  Knowing that in a million years we would never see eye-to-eye on this point, I slid in on my side of the bed and after a few minutes of complete silence he said, “Oh, whatever.  Wanna touch my trapezius?”  And this is why I love him.  It totally eased the tension and I burst into laughter which touched off a really good case of the giggles.  In case you didn’t know, I am one of those people who gets the giggles at the most inappropriate times like during funerals and church services.  Just ask my mom about the Ash Wednesday service I giggled through.  

At any rate, my fit of giggles was only intensified by the fact that every time he went in to kiss me I heard, “Five……Five……Five dollar foot loooonnngs” in my head.  I’m sure you can understand why.  Suffice it to say that we ended our dry spell last night, but it wasn’t without its challenges. 

We’re capping off our weekend of reconnection with a movie date this afternoon courtesy of my friend Lori who will be watching our kids (THANKS LORI!).  We are finally seeing Avatar at the AMC Fork & Screen.  MMMMMM, movie and a martini.  Sounds pretty good to me.  I’ll let you know what I think later. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!