Priorities in Life Together – The Simple Things

We live in incredibly complicated times. Cell phones, blackberries, pagers, fax machines and e-mail are all supposed to make life more convenient – and of course to a large degree they do. But I get worried (stressed out, really) when the urgency of a phone call or an e-mail takes precedence over the people who are most important.

But it’s more than just technology that I am talking about here (I certainly don’t want to in any way portray myself as a Luddite, given the nature of the medium I am currently using…). It is about making choices of what is TRULY important to you and your partner and indeed your family.

Let me give you an example. There are nights, after our daughter has been bathed and put to bed, that Dan will be puttering away on the computer and I will be a few feet away watching something scintillating on TV. After some time has passed, we will realize that we haven’t actually spent any quality time talking to each other that evening and then off goes the TV and off goes the computer. We meet on the sofa to reconnect and chat about everything and nothing. We make each other the priority.

It’s not always for the rest of the evening –sometimes it is only for a few minutes and sometimes that’s all it takes. But is has become very important to me that my gorgeous husband know that he is more important to me than American Idol (I mean I love the show, but let’s face it, it’s a little goofy). This time we spend really talking together also reassures me that the investment newsletters he is reading online don’t take priority over me. Please don’t think I am an idiot. I mean intellectually I KNOW that I am more important, but when he shuts the computer down and comes over to where I am, I know it emotionally. And that’s essential.

I am learning too, that as my daughter gets older, I want her to know she is more important than what’s on the computer, or the dishes in the sink (thank heaven I am not a complete neat freak), or the DVD I can’t quite get through because she wants some attention. I never want her to feel like she doesn’t matter to me. If I thought that either she or my husband felt that way, it would break my heart.

So the challenge of the day that I am going to post here is for you to find a way to connect with the ones you love - boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, lover or even your child – in a way that makes them feel cherished and adored. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture (in fact it can be quite simple) and it doesn’t have to take hours, but it can make all the difference.

Happy Couples, Happy Planet!

posted by Heather and Dan @ 12:06 PM