Making Time for Us
By Sarah McDonald
My husband and I both have full-time jobs to add into the mix of our marriage and parenting our five children. So, when you add up the amount of time we are at work while the kids are at school, extra-curricular activities, volunteering (yes, I know that is one factor that could possibly eliminated but it is mostly for the parish and school!), cooking meals, doing laundry, homework and some sleep, you hit 24 hours really easily. What’s often missing in a day is “us time.”
It’s easy to forget as parents with little children that the center of our family is our marriage.
In the hustle and bustle of the day, with little people in need of something to eat or drink or to show you something really awesome, having a conversation that is more than five sentences is a challenge.
There are many nights when one of us finishes bedtime duty with the kids only to find the other one of us asleep on the couch (often cuddled up with the youngest of our brood).
So again, when is “us time”?
The answer is we make our own “us time.” It’s in the deliberate greeting of each other when we get home or the text that lets us know we are thinking about each other during the day.
It’s when we reach for each other first at the “Sign of Peace” at Mass as little ones clamor to be first. (And when one if us is in the back of church with an unruly child, that we make the effort to make eye contact and perhaps blow a kiss to say, “Peace be with you”.)
It’s in the hug in the middle of the chaos of getting ready for school in the morning. Even if it ends up being a group hug, at least it started with the two of us and what a great metaphor for family, right?
Of course, I LOVE when my husband and I are able to make real quality us time. We are blessed that since we both work, scheduling lunch dates is an option, and we take advantage of that when we can.
What about you, #NOLACatholic parents? How do you make “us time” with your spouse?
We have always purposed to put our children in bed at a certain bedtime no matter what was going on(except fi.or special times like vacation or Christmas, etc)so that the two of us have our quality time each day together. It’s kept us strong, focused, and in love for our 22 years of marriage.