Thursday, January 31, 2013

Adventuring Together

Recently, we were at the beach as a family. It was low tide and only ankle deep for as far as the eye could see. Ian wanted to walk out to "the edge," or  "the drop off," and show Grace.

And he wanted me to come too.

I put on my game face, rolled up my pant legs (even in the Middle East, December doesn't always mean sweating bullets, so, no bathing suit for me that day,) and started the slow trek out there.

There were crabs and fish darting too and fro. Grace repeatedly said "water," and seagulls looped overhead.

The water got deeper and colder and I couldn't pull my pant legs up any farther. I began to complain. But I could tell that Ian wanted us to continue on.

I began to be afraid- of sharks, of the drop off, of the unknown.

But we shuffled onward.

Soon the sandy floor was littered with sharp rocks and I cut my toe on one. We were only ten feet from the drop off, so off we walked. Grace began to be uneasy, water surrounded us for as far as she could see. But we finally arrived, took a look, and turned back around to shore.

"See Grace, we had an adventure!" Ian said.

A bell went off in my head. Adventure. Somewhere in my reading I remembered learning that adventuring together was one of the most important things for husbands. I read that oftentimes, couples adventure together constantly while they are dating and newlyweds, but as they settle into married life, they forget to keep adventuring together.

So, what can I do to keep that adventuresome spirit alive in our marriage? We are approaching our five year anniversary, (FIVE years?! How did that happen?) and I sat down to brain storm some ideas. Here are a few things I came up with:

1.) Have your husband come up with a few items for his "bucket list." Try to cross several items off each year.

I didn't have much success with this. When I asked Ian what he wanted to do in his life, he came up with six things. And five of those things had to do with watching a football game. Awesome.

His goals as of now:
-See a UGA football game
-See an important UGA football game
-See a UGA/FL football game
-See UGA play in the SEC championship
-See UGA play in the BCS national championship
and
-Eat a turduckin

I'm so serious. I plan on trying to help him figure out a few more goals, seeing as we'd have to be in the USA to see goals 1-5 accomplished.

2.) Check out some famous restaurants in your area (or in your travels!) Perhaps you could even take part in a food/eating challenge!

I plan on making one of these:


And putting in a bunch of place sfrom the show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives for when we are in the States this summer and some of the more noteworthy restaurants here in Abu Dhabi.

 3. Try a new sport together, even if you (and/or your husband,) is not particularly athletic.

We'd LOVE to get our Scuba license. And I used to LOVE going rock climbing and surfing. There has got to be even more sports out there that we haven't done. Sailing lesson? Kite Surfing? Skiing? Dune Bashing? Sounds adventurous enough for me!

What are your ideas for adding adventure into your marriage?

4 comments:

Emily Powell said...

these are such cute ideas! love them!

Emily said...

I literally laughed out loud about his bucket list and the UGA games. Too funny! I hope he gets to do all those things though! :)

Callie said...

This is such a good reminder, Brittney! I'll have to be thinking of an "adventure" for D and me for Valentine's Day. :-)

Alison H said...

HA HA HA HA HA!!!! We love this list! And I'm having Brad make one today, too! Excellent idea! Love you!