Take Her with You — Flat Wife!
A spouse’s business trips away from home can be a real concern for a lot of couples! Knowing of the easy potential for thoughts and activities to lead away from one’s spouse and family, I loved the idea shared by a reader of what she does to stay connected with her husband while he is away from home.
Recently, my husband went to Denver on a work trip. He was going to be gone for a few days, and I knew I would miss him terribly. Since I’ve never been to Colorado myself, I decided it was time for me to go too!! I had a plan…
A few years ago my son brought home a Flat Stanley (–an idea from the Flat Stanley kids’ books). As part of the assignment we were to mail Flat Stanley (a paper doll) to friends and family for them to take him with them, and to take pictures to send back to us. What a great idea!
So, I found a picture of myself on my computer, printed it out, cut out the face, and made a shirt and a skirt to go with it. I made some cartoon-ish arms and legs and glued the creation together. With my not-so-fancy laminator, I made it into my very own Flat wife ready for travel!
I wasn’t so sure my husband would play along with taking “Flat Kristi” with him on his trip. But, I was pleasantly surprised when I started receiving email pictures from him!
It really kept us connected while he was gone, and it also helped me to keep track of him (hee-hee). He had a great time finding places to take pictures with his FLAT wife. I’m for sure sending myself on the next trip!
So, instead of letting the temptations of TV screens, cell phones, internet images or even temptations of the flesh lure you away, take along your own Flat wife or Flat husband with you wherever you go!
What a wonderfully fun and effective marriage-strengthening idea Kristi! Thanks for sharing!
Related Resources
- The Flat Hubby — The Dating Divas
Though the idea of sending a “Flat wife” or “Flat husband” around the globe may seem silly at first, it actually is a great way to make those trips apart quite fun for both and may likely bring more fond memories as years go by. About a year and a half into our marriage, my wife went on her first book tour in years. It was a 12 city two and half week trip without much room for me (and our 9 month old son) to meet up. She came up with the splendid idea of taking my childhood plush dog, Sabuchi, (now in our son’s crib) along with her as a reminder of her family back home and as a way for her to share Sabuchi’s journeys around the U.S. to me and mostly to our son. Flash forward 5 years later and our son is enamored with the now enormous photo album we have of “Mom and Sabuchi” going from landmark to landmark as she’s crossed the states. We never would have changed how we handled our first time apart from marriage and for the sake of all the laughter and smiles that “Sabuchi” sitting in front of the Washington monument brings, we probably never will change our new tradition.
http://www.marriagecounselingalternative.com/2140/save-my-marriage-today-learn-from-children/