Changing Things Up

Photo by Cathy Walters in Colorado Springs

I've heard that the secret to a long, sexually satisfying marriage is to change things up every now and then.

So last week, I warned Steve that come Saturday we were going to try something new. He didn't really take me seriously.

I know he didn't because on Saturday morning, when I said, "So tonight we make the switch," he said, "You're serious!"

Yes. Yes, I was. It was time to switch which sides of the bed we sleep on.

You see, for almost three decades, we've been in a rut, and it probably could have gone on indefinitely, but Steve suffered an injury while working on our back yard last fall: he wrecked his left shoulder. That was a year ago, and he still has pain, even after massage therapy, anti-inflammatory meds, and exercises.

As a result, he has only been able to spoon me for short periods of time before his shoulder starts hurting.

I don't know about you, but for me, spooning is one of the single greatest benefits of marriage. Even back when the kids were little and I felt "touched out" by the end of the day, I still looked forward to that comforting snuggle.

Even when summer heat and medication-induced sweatiness made me want to sprawl under a lawn sprinkler, I still craved my snuggles, and lots of them. So this year-long deprivation has really bothered me. Several times I had joked that we should switch sides of the bed so Steve could lie on his right side, but we never did it.

"What! Change?" Steve would jokingly retort, "That's the kind of crazy talk that leads to revolutions!" And then he would claim that his shoulder was feeling surprisingly better, but it never lasted.

So last night was our first night under the new order. I moved my things from my bedside table to the one on the "wrong" side. Swapped pillows.

Totally, totally weird. We'll try this for a while, but I don't know ...