Creating Our Own "Normal"

I've been thinking a lot about what's "normal" in a relationship--the kinds of things most people take for granted. Things like scarfing down some dinner with the one you love on a busy evening, holding hands whenever you feel like it, or a quick kiss on the nose or on the forehead when you're running out the door. I've heard so many couples complain about things like, "We never go out anymore--if anything we just watch a movie on the couch," or "All we do is work around the house on the weekends."

This weekend, LB and I had a very "normal" kind of weekend. We ran up to his parents' house to pick up the rest of his things, went to Target, picked up burgers on the way home, wolfed down some dinner, moved furniture, hung pictures, cleaned the kitchen, and curled up on the couch and watched "The Dark Knight" together. And truthfully? It was heaven.

Being in a long-distance relationship doesn't afford us many opportunities for those kinds of "normal" moments. And I realized that I'd been craving them. We could have gone to see a movie or gone on a date or whatever. And we do that. We've gone on lots of great dates and done lots of really fun things together. But things that "normal" couples who get to see each other a lot totally take for granted are so super special and important to me. I realized this weekend that I just wanted time with him. We did the errands and running around and everyday life kinds of things that we don't get to do a lot together. I loved being there and having him ask my opinion about how he should set up his new house, where he should hang things, what looked best--all those "simple" decisions were amazing to share with him.

And when it came right down to it, ALL I wanted was to curl up on the couch and watch a movie and just enjoy being together. I can't quite explain how magical it is to me to have his arm slung around my waist while I'm curled up on his shoulder and we're just being together. It didn't matter to me that I'd seen the movie before or that we weren't doing anything terribly romantic or exciting--having him turn his head from time to time to gently plant a kiss in my hair was way better than any of that.

So the next time your boyfriend or husband or girlfriend or wife just wants to curl up with you and watch TV or wraps their arms around you when you're doing chores together, think of me. Then take a deep breath and enjoy the moment. Shake off the tiredness and the frustration that you never do anything exciting, and just enjoy being together. And know that I'm probably wishing I could be doing that very thing with my sweetheart, and praying for the day when we're in the same place and our "normal" looks a little more like everyone else's "normal."

So cheers to a little more "normal" for all of us. :)