Weekend Getaway

Recently, Brandon and I decided to take a last-minute trip—just the two of us. Seriously, it was on a Wednesday he told me he would really like for us to go out of town sometime soon. We looked at each other, looked at our calendars, and said, “How about we leave on Friday?” While the trip was totally spontaneous, it was also very intentional.

Let me explain.

When Brandon and I first got married, we set a goal that every year we would take a trip, just the two of us, each year for our anniversary. Taking those trips in the early years showed us how important time alone and away can be for our marriage. On those trips, we had the time to visit, to laugh, to reconnect, and to dream. We looked forward to choosing new destinations and seeing new places.

I would like to tell you that we continued to take an anniversary trip every year since we first got married, but we haven’t. By the time we had three kids and were knee-deep in careers and calendars, we skipped a year. And then another year. And another. We somehow let time get away from us and time away continued to get fewer and farther in between.

Looking back, it is easy to see now the strain we were putting on ourselves and on our marriage by not setting aside that time for each other. We had created a schedule that didn’t leave room for “let’s just get away this weekend.” Even if we had dared say those words out loud, there was always a game, practice, or performance that kept us from running away together.

When we finally started to dream again, we allowed ourselves to dream in every area of our lives—including what we wanted our marriage our to be. We thought back to our early years of dating and even our early years after first getting married. From this, we dreamed of spontaneity and romance. As we began to realign our lives to our values, we knew we wanted both time and money to treat ourselves to weekends away. Not just once a year for our anniversary, but throughout the year, like two people who just can’t wait to spend more time together.

And so, we are working on doing just that. On a Wednesday, we booked an Airbnb for the weekend, we lined up a babysitter for the Friday night, we helped the older kids plan the rest of their weekend together with the younger kids, and then we packed a bag, bought some wine, and hit the road.

I will tell you, our weekend getaway was fun, spontaneous, and romantic. I see this as a start to something more. While this was the first couple’s trip we have taken this year, it will certainly not be the last. As we continue to align our lives to our values, we are looking at putting these weekend trips on the calendar first—one every month—and then planning the rest of the weeks around it—instead of the other way around.

The truth is, time together is that important. The truth is, marriage is that important. When I think of any of the other commitments that could keep us from having that time together, they just don’t seem to stack up. The truth is, our marriage is the commitment that really matters most!