Friday Night in the Suburbs IX
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- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Rachel Turney
Copyright ©2026
Adult Activity Book Entry Nine: Loving Our Changing Bodies
This month’s article is about loving and being loved in your changing bodies, specifically loving in abundance. Content Warning: This article may upset people with any body image concerns or body dysmorphia.
Zach and I went from a super active lifestyle, traveling the world together, to desk jobs and working from home. We lost a lot of movement and almost all of our free time, limiting our physical activity. We also are growing older together. There have been changes to our bodies and sometimes that can lead to changes in the sexual relationship, too. I wanted to explore how to show appreciation for my partner’s changing body while also finding sensuality in my own (also) changing body. Additionally, Zach and I are concerned with staying healthy and increasing our longevity so that we can sit on a porch in rocking chairs and live the retired life dream one day.
This month is about getting back to practices that have fallen off in the last couple of years in my relationship that, for me, show an expression of love for my body and Zach’s body too. I also wanted to do activities together that connect us and “keep us young.” New experiences are great for this as is intentional time investment. Even something small like visiting a coffee shop without your phones supports this. Working out together or cooking a meal helps build connections in activities that increase your quality (and quantity) of life. Staying healthy and strong is also key to maintaining a robust sex life as people grow older (wink).
Sexual Activities:
Initiate sex at an unexpected time or unexpected place. This is something I have said before - initiating is so important to making your partner feel wanted.
Do something that used to turn you both on that fell out of your practice. Maybe it’s slipping on some lingerie, oral sex, or a date night full of foreplay.
Spend time with your partner’s body. Show appreciation for every inch by kissing, massaging, and enjoying all of your and your partner’s body.
Tell your partner how sexy they are and how attracted you are to them. It’s important to show and tell that continued love, lust, and intimacy.
Connecting Activities:
Take up a new hobby or explore an old one together. This month I forced Zach into a bike ride, something we haven’t done together since last summer. This is a great way to decompress while also getting outside and moving.
Zach is cooking more these days. If he is in the kitchen, I move my laptop down to the raised counter and spend some time with him there. Even if I am not helping (lol) we are connecting in a different space in our home while he reengages in an old passion.
Zach is taking a Wednesday off work next month and we are visiting some places we haven’t been together on a trip to another state. These new experiences create bonds. Zach taking time from work communicates to me that he still prioritizes our time together.
It’s important to maintain a connection in order to feel sexy in your own skin and to communicate that you also find your partner as irresistible as the day you met. Build healthy habits together that keep you engaged with each other and active. I cannot express enough how important skin on skin contact is in a relationship. Spend time naked, exploring your bodies together. Appreciate time, intimacy, and the body that holds the person you love.
This friday night - touch, linger, lust, and love.
Have a sexy Friday night!
Rachel Turney
A little poem I wrote in appreciation of Zach’s body - first published in The Hooghly Review.
A Second Helping
Your skin stretches
and that means
there is more of you
than there was before.
I am the happiest
gourmand
because I shall
devour all of you.
If you missed it, please check out other installments in this series:
Rachel Turney, Ed.D. (she/her) is an educator and artist located in Denver. Her poems, research articles, reviews, and drawings can be found in a variety of publications. Rachel is passionate about immigrant rights, teacher support, and empowering other artists. She is a Writers’ Hour prize winner and Best-of-the-Net nominee. Her photography appears on a few magazine covers. Rachel runs the popular online reading series Poetry (in Brief). She is on staff at Bare Back Magazine with her monthly column Friday Night in the Suburbs. She reads for The Los Angeles Review. Website: turneytalks.com Instagram: @turneytalks Bluesky: rachelturney
Buy Rachel’s latest book: RETIRED WANNABE CLUB KID
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