Last night, Hubs and I grilled out and had a little picnic outside our apartment by the lake. We’d had a hard, busy weekend full of car trouble and warrior-dashing and soccer games and fights. We needed to do something fun together.

He made burgers and I sliced up some yellow squash and (Yup, you guessed it!) zucchini. Yum.

And we brought a makeshift “blanket” (old beach towels) to sit on, chips to munch on, and other picnic supplies down the three flights of stairs so we could just hang out there for awhile and eat good food with no TV or dishes, enjoying the sunshine and blue skies…

It was a very weekend-way to spend a Monday night, but it was exactly what we needed. In fact, it wasn’t even that much trouble. Hubs commented that the reason we hadn’t done this before was that it seemed like a lot of work, and I agreed. Carrying all the stuff outside after prepping it in the kitchen…seems like a lot of work for a weeknight meal. It really wasn’t though, much to our surprise, and we plan to do it more often.

(Hopefully soon in a backyard where we don’t have to carry everything down steps and sit in grass that other people let their dogs use as a personal bathroom and don’t bother to clean it up. They also use that grass as an ashtray. Yuck. We really need a house. Soon.)

But overall, it was the perfect way to spend the night we usually spend house-hunting. Laying on a blanket in green grass next to a grill, a lake, and each other is an awesome way to spend any night. Or day.

Plus, I got to see Hubs’ face light up the way it does when he’s really happy–laughing and carefree. That’s a face I fell in love with, all those years ago. (Yes, we’re newlyweds, but we’re not new to loving each other. We’re going on 8 years together now–wow!)

And seeing Hubs relaxed and happy made me feel relaxed and happy. It’s amazing how that works, especially in a marriage where my husband is my very best friend.

So even though I know some of the worry and uneasiness we’re dealing with is still there, it was nice to see how taking time to really just relax, disconnect (even from friends and family) and just be who we fell in love with, made me a little more confident that we’ll get through all this one way or another…with each other.

Happy feet (and knees) and happy hearts.