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"I want to relax," I said. "I need to unwind."

"Well, I'm going to swim laps," he said. "You're welcome to join me."

He hadn't invited me to do anything with him in months. I put down the book and put on my swim goggles. He'd already found a lane so I dove in next to him. We each managed four laps before we'd exhausted ourselves.

"Do you feel relaxed yet?" he asked. I did. It felt good to exercise again.

We began swimming every evening. As the summer went on, our stamina increased. Eventually, we were both able to swim for a full hour. We swam next to each other, encouraging each other, and timing our rest breaks together.

I'm not sure if it was the exercise or the unstressed time we spent together in the pool, but swimming changed our lives. We'd never been healthier. I lost weight and his back stopped hurting.

While swimming, we worked in tandem, and that began to carry over into other aspects of our lives.

We'd come home from the pool and make a light supper before an evening of reading or watching old movies. There didn't seem to be much to bicker about anymore. Perhaps we were too tired from the exercise, but more likely, it was because, finally, we focused on positive things rather than negative ones.

By mid-June, our son wanted to hang out with us, rather than spending all his time with his friends. Our daughter's migraines decreased as the tension in the house subsided.

This isn't to say Jack and I have completely stopped fighting. Every so often a bad day creeps in. However, we've discovered how much we enjoy spending time together—and how much better we feel about ourselves when we exercise. Over that summer, we stopped acting as individuals and began to be a family. That included going to church at the same time whenever possible and making our nightly prayer sessions more meaningful.

When the summer ended, we bought a family membership to a local gym. Most evenings, Jack and I still have our exercise date, only now we spend time in the weight room as well as the pool. The kids join us at their leisure.

Today, our marriage, like our bodies, is strong. It takes a lot of dedication and schedule-juggling. Yet our exercise time is vital to our happiness, so we'll always make room for it in our busy lives.

Our home, at last, is healthy.

Sue Marquette Poremba, an employee of Penn State University, lives with her family in Pennsylvania.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Marriage Partnership magazine. Click here for reprint information on Marriage Partnership.

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