Am I crazy!?

Do you know what piece of machinery I have always considered a huge waste of money? A Pedometer. The thought of spending money on something with the soul purpose of counting steps seems ludicrous! But today, I forked out the money and bought one. Because, I may very well be crazy.


In February, I was asked to teach a class to the Relief Society sisters about dating your husband. I may have been the only one to glean something from the class, but I honestly learned a lot! The class has sparked so many thoughts on marriage, and here is one of a million thoughts.


Have you ever heard the old story about the guy standing in a room with floor-to-ceiling drawers of index cards? The guys reads the categories marked on each drawer. "Girls I have liked", "People I've helped", "Inappropriate thoughts I've had", etc. He opens one of the drawers and discovers that this room catelogs his entire life.


I would be mortified if anyone besides me found their way into "my room". I wonder if a single wall would be enough to fill the "Shows I've Watched" category. Needless to say, I really love T.V. We have two energetic young kids, and hardly any spending money, so all the excitement in our lives comes from our exciting T.V. shows.


In comparison, I wonder how long my "Quality time spent with Husband" drawer would extend, or the "Meaningful Conversations with Spouse" drawer? I'm scared to think how much longer the T.V. drawer would be.


The other day, we spontaneously decided to take our dog for a quick walk at the park. What was supposed to be a fifteen-minute trip turned into so much fun! My two-year-old son discovered the playground and begged us to race through the grass, then we all took turns going down the slide. The swing set came next, and Daddy was asked to swing beside Grayson. I pushed both of them until my husband got so high he had to stop swinging, He was too queasy! Then he and I took turns tempting death by racing our son's scooter down the hill. I can't imagine what we looked like; two adults riding a small, bright blue, Spiderman scooter down a small slope. It was so much fun!


That walk put us all in a great mood the rest of the day, and I found myself wishing that we could do that every day. That's what sparked the idea. Why not do it every day? And then the idea mutated into a summer challenge:


Let's walk a new sidewalk, every day, for the whole summer!


I nervously pitched the concept to my husband, and guess what? He actually loved the idea! Although I'm beginning to wonder if he didn't agree to all of this just for the brand new pair of running shoes I let him buy today...? So Barry got his Nikes, and I got the pedometer to track our progress, and on May 11, we are going to start, what may possibly be, the craziest idea I've ever had. No cell phones, no Ipods, just a nice family walk every day to see how it changes our marriage.


I'm kind of nervous.


Maybe the only thing we get out of this is a pair of new shoes, an over-priced and pointless piece of technology, and some blisters. But I'm really hoping that at the end of the summer, there will be some serious changes to the drawers in "my room".