A day in the woods to process life

My husband and I take regular walks together, holding hands, and discussing whatever is going on in our lives at the moment. We try and sit down for coffee once/wk and talk about our upcoming week and just be together. I love it when we lay in bed, holding hands, talking together about life too. We don't schedule these times together into agendas, however, so they're not as regular perhaps as your weekend outings. And certain seasons (ex. the dead of winter) we're not likely to be out strolling arm in arm :) But all in all, I think we're pretty good about connecting. I actually think my husband is better than me, which I'm grateful for. I get so caught up in all the details of life, decisions to be made, feeding forever hungry children, etc. But he often reaches out to pull me away from that and gets us spending time on eachother.

Like you and your family, spending time outdoors is the most reliable way for us to reconnect and to have the opportunity to really be present. I've been so wrapped up lately in our new homeschooling adventure I've barely taken the time to remember what the rest of our lives look like. For the past several years we've lived in a constant state of relocating (and now wanting to move again)and the stress of not knowing how long we'll be living where we do can be all consuming and definitely stressful. I am looking forward to a summer of hiking, camping, and enjoying the beautiful area we currently call home, and in the process remembering the people we are outside of the daily stresses and jumble of life.

Jeremy and I haven't had any time alone since we had Luna close to nine months ago. But we do find time to process life in other ways, either as a family, or during breaks we give each other from taking care of Luna. Yoga and writing are saviors for me, while Jeremy relies on physical projects, like building things or gardening, to help him process things. We go on walks and hikes when we can with Luna in the backpack, which works marvelously. Even cooking, doing small projects, or going to Farmers' Market ... anything, really, where we can simply be and be in the moment ... work for us.

We're hoping that when we move to NC, we'll have a lot more leisure time as well, time with which to build our home, reflect on nature and art, build community, and enjoy family.

Sorry, I typed in the wrong blog address. This one has the right one though!

I did forget to add that we try to do a little something close to every day so that we don't become overwhelmed with work, parenting duties, and other demands! Otherwise, we become so caught up in it all, and we forget to breathe easy.

We don't really have date nights. In fact my in-laws were just in town and we snuck away for an hour and yes it was nice, but it was almost pressure to have "that time". In the winter, we tend to have coffee hour in the kitchen mid-afternoon and in the warmer weather we find ourselves on the front porch. It's just those moments, you can't plan when everyone is happy and content for a moment. We really enjoy those.

Also, we live downtown so we walk a lot. Those walks definitely create time for good conversations.

Our walks are the most important part of our day--the time when everything but the next step gets left behind. Like you, we go for a big hike on the weekends, but try to make a daily habit of walking out the front door and up the ridge for sunset or along the river a block away. Our worlds reconnect after a day apart, and the open land makes room for whatever needs to be said. Or not said, but felt.

Happy birthday Celine! Very inspiring post Renee. I don't think we make enough time to reflect and process life TOGETHER.

I don't have an answer to this right now, really. It is a work in process as we work towards better balance. Mike's job has been a horrid strain on our family and we are working through how to change that now without being unemployed. We do family projects together often and we do do date nights. We never used to, but my mom comes to be here for the kids after they go to bed and we go out with gift certificates for discounted meals. Not super frugal, but it is good for us right now. Love your photos and imagery and empathize with the busy life status. Nicola

My life processing time comes at night. I'm a nature girl living in the city and late at night is the only time when the hustle and bustle of the day calms down. I find it so strange that my thoughts are not as clear during the day...I think it's due to the surrounding active energy. My heart is used to quiet days and no traffic (:

Nature is the tranquility that speaks to my heart, but even my daily hikes with the pups in the morning and eve to a lovely woodsy spot near home doesn't offer the same ease of pace that the late hours can give. It seems to be the magic time for me (:

What a thoughtful post. How do we process life? Hmmm...well, I guess at the moment it is after Isaac goes to bed. He is close to four and is asleep by 7pm giving us the evening to connect. But even in the evenings we have our own things we want to do; reading and writing and whatnot for me, and Fred really enjoys de-stressing by playing video games. But our spaces are set up so we are in the same room...right next to each other. This way, when something comes up that needs to be shared or discussed, we can do it right then. Even if we aren't talking...I like that we are in close proximity. I feel connected. On weekends we do EVERYTHING together. Our evenings are the same as our weekday eveings, but our days are full of family stuff and in this way we all build our life and process it together. We don't do date nights very often...only if a cool concert comes to town - but when we do, it's always really nice to get out and experience our life as a couple in love.