SpouseConnect

I had a real treat yesterday. Mike was on vacation all week which meant on Sunday, I could choose where we worshiped. I selected a church in inner city Indianapolis. There was an interesting challenge to the morning, however, one that I never expected.

Neither Mike nor I are used to driving to church together on Sunday morning. He usually leaves at least an hour before I do. I am one of these people, who tries to do "just one more thing" before going out the door. I depend on red lights to finish my makeup, put on my watch, and finish other minor dressing tasks. We needed to leave by 8, so about 7:50, I heard, "Ten more minutes"."What's that?" I thought quickly realizing that Mike was reminding me that we had to leave soon.

A few more minutes passed, and I heard, "Five more minutes.""Oh my goodness, I am not used to being reminded of time on Sunday morning." Finally, I was ready, sort of -- dragging my makeup bag, watch, bottle of water, into Mike's car as we left.

While we were traveling, I commented, "Mike whenever you retire, our greatest challenge might not be too much togetherness, but integrating our different styles of Sunday morning preparation."

Driving to church together is something we haven't done for over twenty years. We had one car the first eleven years we were married, and two of those years, we had to go at the same time. Then for the next eleven years we lived next door to the church (not the same one) and walking about twenty feet was the best! Since 1989, we drove separately.

Mike shook his head with amusement as I explained my Sunday morning routine as he drove downtown recognizing that sometime in the years to come, our biggest retirement challenge might be driving to church together!

Jacquie Reed, Fishers, Indiana