Yucking it up in an unlikely place

My husband and I have a little get-away every couple months or so. We go to this quiet place where we're all alone and have time to hold hands, regroup, and talk. We swap stories and have those heart-to-heart chats that make you remember why you love each other.
It's all very lovely and romantic.
except that it takes place in the doctor's office.
Yea.
Here's the deal.
About three years ago I had my first full-blown, I-think-I'm-gonna-die panic attack.
And the awful doctors appointments were the worst part. I mean, sitting for hours just to hear super scary stuff? Seriously. Panic attack waiting to happen.

During those early visits I told Andrew that reading worn out waiting room magazines just wasn't cuttin' it for me. I needed to keep my mind occupied.....and just talk or something.
So that's what we decided to do.
We would talk about anything and everything just to fill the space and keep time rolling quickly. The only stipulation was that conversation must be kept on the up and up. Only the happy, funny or interesting allowed. And absolutely nothing about my back.
At first, I took the reigns and told him every hilarious story I hoped maybe I hadn't told him before. ;) When I ran out of those, I filled him in on the plot line of my latest book (poor guy's pretty much read Twilight himself thanks to my waiting room narrative).
And very quickly he caught on and started chiming in with childhood stories and funny workplace anecdotes.
And it totally worked, ya'll.
Appointment after appointment, chatting it up til the doctor came in kept me completely...un-panicked. ;)
Over the years this has become our waiting room norm. From the moment the nurse closes the door behind us, we start talking. I fill him in on this and that and he'll tell me what he's studying or about some other quirky life situation. We actually have some fantastic talks. I'm sure every now and then the office staff wonders what in the world we're yuckin it up about in there.

It's far better than fighting worry by flipping thru a 2005 ReaderDigest, let me tell ya. And since we are the busy parents of a toddler, one-on-one talk time doesn't happen a ton these days. So it works out on several levels.
Now, I still hate sitting in crappy waiting rooms. But I do enjoy fascinating chats with my bestie.
And
there's been an absence of panic attacks for a very long time. So, I'll take it.

Here we are. Not in a doctor's office. And just for the record, I am officially 3.5 pounds lighter than when this picture was taken. Thank you Weight Watchers.