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My Blooming Husband

Last week, Chris was in tech rehearsals almost every night, which means he didn’t get home until about 11:00.  And I was fighting a cold, so I was going to bed when the kids did around 8:00 every night.  Chris and I basically saw each other over breakfast in the mornings, and that was about it.

(Have I mentioned how much I hate tech weeks?)

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On Thursday night, I was finally feeling a little better, so I stayed up late to see him when he got home.  We sat in the kitchen catching up on each other’s weeks until midnight, and it was lovely.  Chris is my best friend, so when I don’t see him for a while, I have so much to tell him!

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“Oh!” he said to me as we talked.  “Guess what I joined!”

“I have zero guesses,” I said.

“The Orlando Hockey Club!”

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Now, Chris played street hockey all growing up and he is a huge hockey fan, so the fact that this was a hockey club didn’t surprise me at all.  But it was more that he joined ANYTHING that shocked me so much.  Turns out, he had joined the club earlier in the week and then went out and bought himself his hockey equipment.  So, this was like HAPPENING.

“Um…” I asked delicately.  “Aren’t you too…old???”

“NO!” he insisted.  “It’s going to be great!”

So, Saturday morning, we loaded up the kids and Daisy Puppy and headed across town to this park where they play roller hockey every Saturday morning.  I dropped Chris off (with the promise that I would not be THAT WIFE who took pictures of him, so I have no pictures to share… Bad blogger…), and the kids and I took Daisy over to the dog park nearby.

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Daisy in the dog park was hysterical.  She’s been to a dog park once before, but Big Molly was with her.  I didn’t realize it would be so traumatic for her to go without her big friend, but – MAN! – was she freaked out!  She warmed up eventually, but it took a while.  I tried to channel my best Dog Whisperer by walking confidently and calmly throughout the park, but finally Bean asked me why I was walking so funny so I stopped.  But it did help Daisy when he would walk out there with her.

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What really helped her was having the kids around.  She stayed pretty close to them.

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Eventually, all the other dogs left because it was raining (and yet I stayed – I have questionable judgment sometimes), and she loved having the entire place to herself with the kids.  They tried to get her to go into all the agility equipment, but she was not having any of that.

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We are starting puppy classes with her in May, and I’m thinking agility might be just up her alley then.  She is super fast, really lean, and smart, too.  I think she might really like agility courses.  But for the dog park, we let her do whatever she wanted.

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After a while, we headed back over to where Chris was playing just in time for him to finish up.  And I have to say, he looked pretty darn happy.  Actually, he was radiant!  (Can boys be radiant?)  Smiling from ear to ear, a big sweaty mess, and dirty from head to toe.

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“How was it?” I asked.

“It was awesome!” he grinned.  And then he talked 90-miles-an-hour all the way home.

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I’m really happy for Chris.  He needs something fun and exciting to do outside of work and family.  We all have things going on, and Chris just really spends most of his time working.  I am so glad to see him finding something to keep him active and excited.  I haven’t seen him glowing like that in years.

I have been so focused on how the kids are developing that I haven’t really stopped to pay attention to Chris.  And not just Chris as my husband or as the kids’ father, but Chris as a person.  I have never really thought about the fact that as our kids become more independent, Chris and I will also get to become a little more independent, as well.  And that’s a good thing.  We need time to ourselves and for ourselves in order to keep growing.  I’m glad Chris is finding that time for himself right now.  It will be good for all of us.

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We came home from hockey around lunch time, and after we all ate, Chris laid down for a little bit to “watch some golf.”  But when I came down to check on him later, he had fallen asleep with the TV guide still on the screen, so I don’t even think he managed to get golf turned on before he fell asleep!  He slept for three hours that afternoon and needed two Tylenol when he woke up.  But he woke up smiling and happy.

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“Look at you!” I exclaimed when he finally woke up.  “Blooming and everything.”

Bloom where you are planted.  

3 Comments

  • Jen Cave

    I love this! I believe that no matter how old we get, every single person needs something like this. We need to take off our responsibility hats and just have some alone time to do whatever makes our soul happy.

  • Jennifer

    My husband rediscovered soccer a few years ago, shortly after we moved into our house. He know plays three nights a week and he loves it! He met a few new friends he wouldn’t know otherwise and they are all great people. Plus it gets him out and doing some exercise which is always good.

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