Sometimes I feel like a bad wife. For example, last week when I responded to Barry’s comment about a rough day at work by telling him that Mondays are often difficult and was met with silence, I wondered what I’d said wrong. He paused and gently said that he thought it was Wednesday, which indeed it was. Good wives probably keep track of the days of the week and don’t blame a long day at the office on Monday of all days.
This past weekend I strapped myself into my newly acquired triathlon wet suit and accompanied Barry on his training swim around Cain Lake. Let me be clear about a few things:
1. I have almost no intention of doing a full triathlon.
2. Although I was in the water for just as long as Barry, he literally swam circles around me.
3. There was a time not too long ago that I could swim almost as fast as Barry. Not so much anymore.
I went with Barry at first because I knew he was more excited for me to try out my wetsuit than I was, but by the time we finished up our swim I was delighted that I’d decided to go. We made it out to the middle part of the lake and it was at that point that I realized that perhaps I’d pushed myself a bit too hard. I opted to do a bit of back stroke and Barry proceeded to swim like a seal. Go figure.
As I found myself floating there, with my tummy pointed to the sky, I pushed thoughts of fish nibbling my toes out my head and took in the scene around me: trees lining the skyline, cozy homes nesteled into the woods and my amazing husband swimming effortlessly through the water just ahead of me. We left Maggie with Greg and Linda and it was nice to have some time doing something active with Barry without the extra strain of pushing a stroller or hauling a child in a pack.
By the time we got out of the water and headed back to Greg and Linda’s, I thought to myself that perhaps I’d earned some points in the Good Wife Department because I knew the day of the week and I had finally tried out my wet suit. As turns out, I definitely earned some points, but it didn’t have anything to do with days of the week or wetsuits…it was more about the shared experience of floating in the middle of the lake together and truly enjoying it.
Truthfully, there isn’t really such thing as points when it comes to being married, but it is certainly fun to joke about. I’m just grateful that I’m married to somebody that I appreciate so much and I know it goes both ways.
Good Wife, Bad Wife, Happy Wife.
