couples therapy

For some reason, it's taken me an entire year to care about what our bedroom looks like in this house. I mean, I cared a little. I cleaned it, I made the bed, I kept it tidy. But it's all the way upstairs tucked into the corner at the end of the hall, and there were much more pressing issues to tend to when it came to making this house our home. Like getting rid of the brown walls in the living room, and the (fake) crystal chandelier in the dining room, and the old, dusty, stained curtains...everywhere. And it's not like we spend that much time in our bedroom. Bedtime, the occasional story for Ralph, coffee on Saturday mornings. That's about it. The bedroom was last on my list of rooms to fix up.

And then last weekend I caught the bug. Lots of bright white bedrooms on pinterest, I think that's what finally did it. We already had white paint, and a quick trip to Target for some simple white curtains and sheets took care of the rest. We painted the entire room in one afternoon last weekend, and now I just need some art for the walls before it's all finished. 

On Tuesday I decided to really go for it, and deep cleaned the entire room. I washed all the bedding and dusted and swept. It took me all day (lots of babies in my house these days, so most things take all day now) and I didn't get to scrubbing the floor until after Ralph was in bed. I got down on my hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water and started washing when I heard Ryan come up the stairs and into the room with a rag in his hand. He knelt down too, and we washed our bedroom floor together. It wasn't much, but for some reason it felt like such a sweet and loving gesture, and it almost made me cry. Working on projects together is something we both love to do, but working together on the room where we whisper and laugh and pray and sleep and dream, side by side, has been my favorite project yet. It felt ceremonious. It felt like our marriage was washed clean and fresh, along with the floor and the sheets. Having a pretty bedroom to fall asleep in now is just a bonus.