Torch, Summer 1987

Listen , maybe I should write that book myself. You know what I'd say to my husband? Having fun together is : - doing the unexpected on an expected day. - having a friend pack my suitcase and take me on a surprise weekend trip when I thought I was just going to McDonald ' s for a Friday night treat. - going shopping and trying on a new look just for fun. - taking a back road instead of the interstate on a trip- oh, yes, planning for three stops ahead of time. - washing the car and seeing who gets the first e1nnt spray of water. - calling the best man at our wedding with whom we haven ' t talked in eight years. - reading aloud to each other in the backyard swing . - trying one of my hobbies for a change. After all , I didn't ask for my Christmas golf clubs. - challenging each other to achieve and maintain fifteen sit-ups each night. - riding tandem on a bicycle in the countryside. - redecorating a room. - letting me cut his hair instead of that ex-Marine in the shopping center. - teaching a Sunday school class of three-year-olds together. - learning a foreign language together. - planting a prized hybrid rose bush. - adopting a young married couple to nurture in the Lord . - having him volunteer to wash my hair. - hiding a "for-no-special-occasion" present somewhere in the house and leaving a trail of clues . - having a dress up , candle-lit dinner in the dining room every Thursday evening. - planning , designing and making a small craft item for an elderly neighbor. - looking for the humor in a day 's work and sharing it at dinner. - keeping a diary together of the year' s blessings , lessons , defeats , etc. - having the mothers-in-law visit the same week. - rowing across a placid lake on a cool , summer evening. - getting into the car, taking a ride , and shutting out "Ma Bell ." - baiting my fishing hook with that awful catalpa worm . - NOT listening to "Moon Over Miami" again for the rest of my life. I can just see it now . Mildred , do you think that Fred and I could produce a series of films , "Focus on Family Fun ," or promote a series of national seminars? Listen to this: Cedarville University presents Fred and Ernestine Faulkner's "Basic Adult Fun" or "Family Life Funinars." Why , in three years, I could be at the National Booksellers Convention or the local Zondervan Bookstore autographing a new best seller: What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Having Fun. Well, I' ve got to hush now. Your friend , 11