Our life is full and rich and painted in beautiful colours.  With 3 kids, and critters running all over the place, it is also busy.  Taking a break, a real break, away from it all, is a rarity, and that’s ok. Hubby and I enjoy our moments of peace within the chaos.  A few minutes to sit in the sun and have a conversation while the kids run havoc arounds us.   While we aren’t passing ships in the night like many parents at this stage, we are fully loaded cargo transfers, with little room to carry someone else’s load.

But every once in a while we are given a moment to breathe.

With the kids away at the Grandparents for a few days, hubby and I had some big plans to relax, eat out, and enjoy each other’s company.  We had projects we wanted to finish, and looked forward to uninterrupted conversation.

That was what we wanted.

But it isn’t what we got.

Our week was supposed to be full of productivity and sucking the marrow out of the spring like days. Instead it was lying horizontal on the couch, sharing a box of kleenex between us.

The Flu hit the both of us on the weekend, so seconds after we had ushered the kids out the door, the two of us collapsed.  Movie marathons, cups of tea and toast, early bedtimes and sleep ins.  Our conversations were short, and if I get the laundry done before the kids get home on the weekend it will be a miracle.

This wasn’t what we wanted, not at all.  We wanted a week of laughter and quality “marriage” time.  We wanted a week of sunshine and productivity. We wanted to use these days to get ahead, not fall further behind.

It wasn’t what we wanted, but perhaps it was exactly what we needed?  Maybe we needed to be struck down so that we would S.T.O.P.

Overachievers, both of us, we take on so many things. We need (and want) to do our best, and feel that each moments should be embraced and used to it’s fullest.   Spending a week with my husband napping on the couch and watching movies was NEVER on the agenda, but as we lay there, without interruption, with no calls for dinner, it was exactly what we needed.

There would be no other good time to catch a flu, especially both of us at the same time.  To completely succumb, rather than multitask and fight our way through it.  This week, while it could have been something else entirely, was exactly what it was meant to be.

Hubby and I shut down this week, and that’s ok.  Every body, every soul, needs to do it every now and then.  We shut off with no harm or lack of attention delivered to our kids, and we are giving our bodies the chance to sleep, eat and heal before we are thrust back into the role of “Mom” and “Dad” again.

And maybe that is just the break we needed, even though it wasn’t the one we had planned.