Mario Bros is Our Couples Therapist

I know, I know...video games.  To be honest, I'm not a huge fan and it took me a long time to get on board with the whole Wii, but then I actually asked to receive a Wii from my parents for our wedding gift when we got married.  Strange maybe, but it's turned out to be a really good thing! 

In the beginning we used our Wii to play games when we had other couples over in the first few months that I was here.  I also used the Wii Fit to do some "work-outs" on some of the hottest days last summer so I could still be inside. The Wii has provided hours of competitive and fun entertainment with our friends, although I will admit that several times I'd wondered whether it was the right investment for our wedding present. (I'm really not a huge fan of the TV and video game systems overall.)

Then the TV was no longer functional and the Wii sat on the shelf for a few weeks. About a month after that our neighbors down the street had asked if they could borrow it when they had friends coming over one night, and there it lived and was used until this month when I finally broke down and agreed to let the husband get a new TV. Now the Wii is back in our house and we've been putting it to use for about an hour each evening playing Mario Bros before the hub worked his night shift.

And that's when it dawned on me that in a lot of ways Mario Bros is sort of like a great couples therapist--well at least for us. Marriage isn't perfect and we've definitely had our fair share of ups and downs in the last year. So I found it comical the night it dawned on me that this false world held in a childhood game has truly been a lil blessing in disguise in our lives for the last few weeks.

So what you might ask, does Mario Bros teach us? ;) Well growing up, my sibs and I never had a Nintendo game system, so this means that the hub has to teach me all sorts of tricks and basics on a continual basis(such as what the A button is for and that holding down 1 makes me run faster, etc). I have to count on him to teach me what I need to know, and we're both constantly having to remind me to push the right button at the right time (sometimes my brain doesn't retain lil details--haha).  Knowing that its just a game lets us not freak out about the simple mistakes, and I willingly always am Luigi and let the hub take the lead as Mario(somewhat of a miracle for this control freak). When I die 5x in a row, the hub doesn't mind but tries to get us through to the next round and praises me for trying anyway. And then he always brings me back to life for the next try. We work together as a team to get prizes and let each other know what hazards are coming up. I'm learning to let the hub go off on his exploration missions attempting to get us more goods and he's learning to let me blaze out in my own way on the screen even if it might mean the end for poor Luigi and getting in the way of poor Mario. The hub realizes that his outbursts at the TV impact me, but ironically I catch myself yelling at the bad guys sometimes now too! ;) At the end of each level/test/whatever you want to call it, we always end up giving each other a supportive word or five, because we just accomplished something together! ;) Pretty much this boils down to the following: increased appreciation, flexibility, trust, fun, and the ability for us to express ourselves individually while still working toward the same end goal. 

Who knew that Mario Bros would make such a good therapist---and without talk therapy?  All for the price of one game and part of the CPU (cost per use) of the total cost of the Wii, from the comfort of our own home.  I think we're money ahead and happier for the bargain.

So am I ready to endorse video games......uh, not exactly......but I will tell you that I'm becoming a more accepting, supportive, and compromising wife and individual---and I think that's a step in the right direction.