I'm Married to a Pokémon Player

There are two types of people in the world - people who play Pokémon Go and people who do not. Regardless of which camp you sit in, you probably have your reasons. To be honest, I had only started hearing murmurings of it on Facebook and Instagram when it became available for play in Canada. That is when my husband's childhood dream of catching Pokémon in real life became a reality. That is also when I had a choice to make - to play or not to play.

Let me first say this - I'm totally on board with the idea that you and your spouse should have separate interests. You are your own person (at least I think you should be) before you meet your spouse and so it's only natural that you continue on in those hobbies and interests. Sometimes the stars align and the things you love to do line up with the interests of your spouse. Sometimes they couldn't be more opposite and could probably qualify as torture to the other person. In any case, shared and solo interests are a healthy part of a relationship.

So what about Pokémon? Well here's the thing - within the first day of Andrew (and his brother, brother's girlfriend and brother in law) playing the game, I caught myself rolling my eyes and thinking (thankfully only to myself), "Why do you even play that stupid game?" But I didn't say that. Slow to speak - nailed it. Instead, I decided to try looking at it in an entirely different light. Rather than asking him why he was playing a dumb game on his phone, I asked him, "So... how do you catch them?" He was a bit surprised by my interest but like most husband's do when their wife shows interest in their weird hobbies, he played it cool and gave me a basic explanation.

A few nights later as we got ready for bed he mentioned that there were a bunch of Pokémon in the park behind our house. He went into the bathroom and when he came back he found me in jeans and a hoodie with phone in hand, "Cmon, let's go get them".

Is this blog about playing Pokémon Go? No. It's about looking at your spouse's hobbies and interests in a different light. Instead of being annoyed at the ways they are different from you, ask them to teach you or at the very least ask them about why it's so important to them. I don't know if I'll ever convince Andrew to come to a Paint Nite with me. But the look on his face when I told him I had just caught a Bulbasaur in the living room totally makes up for it.

"Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:4

How About You - Do you play Pokémon Go with your spouse? Is there a hobby of theirs that you could take an interest in rather than resisting it? How can you encourage your spouse in their individual interests this week?