Years ago, when my Norwegian Artist husband and I were poor college students, we didn’t have money to go on a proper date. So we took long walks instead.
As expansive and broad as the beach are the many wonderful things this couple has to talk about. Hand in Hand, art print by Steve Henderson
(As an aside, we were often passed by a couple in their 80s who jogged together — hand in hand. It was an inspiring sight.)
A major facet of walking side by side with another person is that you talk. About what’s around you, naturally, but often about what went on that day, who irritated you, who was kind, politics, movies, books, philosophy, dreams for the future, and plans on how to get there.
There’s something about moving your feet that stimulates the mind. And there’s something about being under a big expansive sky that makes life’s challenges seem, for the moment, just a bit smaller.
Sometimes, we felt bad because our “date nights” didn’t look like what they were supposed to: we weren’t sitting across from one another at a restaurant, wine glasses in hand, eyes boring into one another’s soul.
“How will our relationship last without real date nights?” was a fleeting topic on one walk. And then we moved on, literally and figuratively, because walking together, and talking a lot, is what we did.
The painting, Hand in Hand, is a celebration of communication and best-friendship, which, when you think about it, are major components in a lasting relationship.
Strolling barefoot along the beach, a couple in love blends into their surroundings as they are focused on one another. Their conversation is animated, dynamic, inspiring — surrounded by a majestic ocean and under a grand sky, they talk and listen, question and answer, animatedly agree and just as animatedly disagree.
This is what any true relationship — be it romantic or not — requires: constant, deep, and meaningful communication. The two go hand in hand.
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