Gratitude for Time Away

It's the slow moments together that make me feel most connected. They show me what it feels and looks like to be deeply in love.

Babe, I yelled.

BABE, there's a mouse in the house! I said nervously.

WHAT? my husband shouted back in disbelief from the bathroom.

THERE'S. A. MOUSE. IN. THE. HOUSE. I exclaimed.

We're away on a staycation in this lovely house in a tiny country town. Of course, there could be a mouse in the house.

I got closer to the little mouse, realizing how adorable it was. I'm no rodent person, but this little creature was a cutie.

All good, babe! I yelled confidently up to him. I'll try and get it. It's so cute!

CUTE?!, he shouted back in disbelief again.

I ended up going to the kitchen and trying to lure our little friend with some English Muffin crumbs. That failed. The mouse was not interested.

Next strategy, a cup!

That plan worked. We safely and gently got the little mouse out of the house. He was even cuter outside.

"Awww, babe, look—it's so adorable!"

"Yea, he is kinda cute," Ryan said

Both of us were glad that it'd be cute OUTSIDE versus inside.

I feel like these random things happen to us a lot. Like, of course, there's a mouse in the house. We're here—why wouldn't it be.

Another memory in the vault for us—"Remember that time we had to get a mouse out of our Airbnb in the middle of the woods?!" one of us will say.

I cannot wait to recount this down the line.

My husband Ryan and I are great friends. Getting to spend one on one time away with each other without our kids brings us both deep joy. It reminds us of the good ol' days where we found ease and adventure almost everywhere we went. Don't get me wrong, we love having a family together—our kids are awesome—AND we love having time away to reconnect, laugh, be silent, and feel unrushed. There's something extraordinary about being together like this. It always makes me feel like we are back in L.A., where we met, with endless possibilities at our fingertips. Except, whenever we go away now, it's infinite sleep and basking in the quiet time.

Nevertheless, today's mouse adventure made me laugh. It also made me wonder what seeing a mouse symbolized.

From what I read, a mouses presence in your life can mean:

Time to get motivated and moving (me!)

Your soul is naturally inventive (also, me!)

Connected to confidence to achieve goals (sometimes me!)

Your house has a mouse infestation (hopefully never me...)

I'm going to look on the bright side and go with the first three.

Having time away with my husband reminds me of how grateful I am to not only be married to him but to be friends with him. To me, friendship and romantic partnership are a must for a thriving connection. Having a friend in the person we choose to do life with seems right. I never saw that growing up. I hope our kids look at us and see love personified.

We laughed a lot today, we had a lovely morning walk (Day 83), and we wrangled the cutest little mouse. It's time like this that gratitude shows me the beauty of life. It's the slow moments together that make me feel most connected. They show me what it feels and looks like to be deeply in love.

Calls to Action

Watch my Scenes from Sabbatical, PT.2 here.

Listen to this.

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