The ingredient I left off my recipe for a happy marriage was being attuned to each other’s moods. This never became more obvious than on Tuesday. I was feeling rather flat-I suspect because I’d been confined to the house so much lately.
‘I feel rather flat,’ Mick announced.
‘Me Too,’I agreed.
Mick then proposed we take ourselves out for a day date, ‘if you can spare the time from work.’ I’d been thinking exactly the same. As so often we were in tune with each other’s feelings and thought processes, which I comes from having been married so many years and understanding each other.
One of the advantages of him being retired and me working from home is wherever possible I can shuffle work around to fit in with other plans. So we took ourselves off with a picnic lunch to Greenpatch, one of the many pristine beaches along the shores of Jervis Bay.
Under a brilliant blue sky, we enjoyed lunch with rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, several ducks and a magpie that serenaded us.
Then we walked along the white sands looking out onto to the bay which looked just like fluted glass with its amazing shades of teal and turquoise, fringed with deep green bush land of the national park. One of these days when I figure out how to put photos up on the site, I’ll have to show you how beautiful it is.
Along the way we stopped now and then to pick up interesting shells in various colors and shapes, to add to the collection I keep in the bathroom.
When we walked back to the car some time later, we encountered a pademelon with a little joey in her pouch, who studied us as intently as we studied them. By the time we came back home we felt emotionally recharged and thankful for the couple of hours spent walking and talking and relaxing in the beauty of the South Coast. It’s amazing what a little bit of time together enjoying the outdoors can do for our outlook and our marriage, not to mention adding significantly to my shell collection.
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