Had another fantastic reminder about not only the person I want to be but also who I don't want to be. This reminder was not so gentle either & I deserved every bit of humble pie that I had to swallow. Best one to teach these lessons to me of course is my wife. The one that is correct so many times more than she's not. The scoreboard went up for her "victory total" with this story.
We were up in one of most favorite spots in the world - Traverse City, Mi. We were blessed enough to go up there last week and stay at her parents' condo that they own there for 2 quick nights. Before I share the lessons I learned, a little backstory. We have been going up there together for almost 30 years - 18 or so as a family with our kids, her siblings and their families, and her parents. Family dinners, golf outings with my brother-in-law Jim, poker games with the guys, swimming, eating out, Pirates Cove mini golf & water rides, all the great stuff that summers are made of. As the kids got older and plans changed for everyone, my wife and I kept going up there. We found so many wineries that we really enjoy going to and it's been our mission to go to everyone that we can find in the area over the years. The beaches are great. Downtown Traverse City is awesome. So many small towns and great things to do for hours in any direction you drive from there.
So we were there having a great time and we went to my wife's favorite beach. It's a small public park near the two bays of water (I'll leave it at that as I don't want to share this secret location. :-) LOL ) It was after dinner that we decided to go there and we had 2 bottles of wine that we just bought at one of the wineries and they were cold too. :-) Well... the "old man" in me came out again. There were threats of storms all day, all around the state - especially in the evening. I got an alert on my phone that "moderate rain" was going to start in 20 minutes in my location. I pulled up the radar and sure enough... HUGE areas of rain showed up coming our way!! I showed it to my wife and mentioned how we have about 15 minutes before we would have to leave.
She began to remind me how inaccurate those apps are with rain coming and she wanted to stay. That wasn't good enough for the old man sitting next to her, as I wasn't about to get soaked trying to gather up both chairs, the cooler, etc., and try and get back to the car. Well... a long story short here for you - our "discussion" didn't go to well for the old man. As I started complaining a bit - I started gathering things up and we made our way back to the car - which in my defense was a whole 20 seconds away!! Then she turned up the "passion" of her side of the "discussion" as I started to drive out of the lot. I quickly saw (and heard) that this was not going to be good for me. I turned around in the front of the lot where they have a turnaround to avoid the exit and go back to our spot. I decided I was going to back the car in so that we could at least pop the tailgate and sit there until the rain stopped. Well needless to say this was not going to work as it was not raining and she wanted to go back to our spot with the chairs.
Well, she was once again proved correct as we got the chairs out again, went back and watched a beautiful sunset. The rain never really showed up to save me & truthfully, we had some tearful & great talks about things. I found out some things that I need to work on and so did she. After 30 years of marriage, we both are still learning to get better not only as people but as partners for each other. It was an amazing turn of events. I have learned that I need to keep looking to get better. To keep looking to keep my head up, look for the positives and not get so negative & worried about simple & enjoyable things in life. I was reminded about how fun it is to be in the rain a little bit with someone you love. There are plenty of bright sides to things, when normally I am conditioned to see the worst in things. I put out a couple of posts to social media about how wrong or negative I could be and how my wife (knowing these things about me & seeing me at my worst sometimes) still finds the way to love me anyways.
We were up in one of most favorite spots in the world - Traverse City, Mi. We were blessed enough to go up there last week and stay at her parents' condo that they own there for 2 quick nights. Before I share the lessons I learned, a little backstory. We have been going up there together for almost 30 years - 18 or so as a family with our kids, her siblings and their families, and her parents. Family dinners, golf outings with my brother-in-law Jim, poker games with the guys, swimming, eating out, Pirates Cove mini golf & water rides, all the great stuff that summers are made of. As the kids got older and plans changed for everyone, my wife and I kept going up there. We found so many wineries that we really enjoy going to and it's been our mission to go to everyone that we can find in the area over the years. The beaches are great. Downtown Traverse City is awesome. So many small towns and great things to do for hours in any direction you drive from there.
So we were there having a great time and we went to my wife's favorite beach. It's a small public park near the two bays of water (I'll leave it at that as I don't want to share this secret location. :-) LOL ) It was after dinner that we decided to go there and we had 2 bottles of wine that we just bought at one of the wineries and they were cold too. :-) Well... the "old man" in me came out again. There were threats of storms all day, all around the state - especially in the evening. I got an alert on my phone that "moderate rain" was going to start in 20 minutes in my location. I pulled up the radar and sure enough... HUGE areas of rain showed up coming our way!! I showed it to my wife and mentioned how we have about 15 minutes before we would have to leave.
She began to remind me how inaccurate those apps are with rain coming and she wanted to stay. That wasn't good enough for the old man sitting next to her, as I wasn't about to get soaked trying to gather up both chairs, the cooler, etc., and try and get back to the car. Well... a long story short here for you - our "discussion" didn't go to well for the old man. As I started complaining a bit - I started gathering things up and we made our way back to the car - which in my defense was a whole 20 seconds away!! Then she turned up the "passion" of her side of the "discussion" as I started to drive out of the lot. I quickly saw (and heard) that this was not going to be good for me. I turned around in the front of the lot where they have a turnaround to avoid the exit and go back to our spot. I decided I was going to back the car in so that we could at least pop the tailgate and sit there until the rain stopped. Well needless to say this was not going to work as it was not raining and she wanted to go back to our spot with the chairs.
Well, she was once again proved correct as we got the chairs out again, went back and watched a beautiful sunset. The rain never really showed up to save me & truthfully, we had some tearful & great talks about things. I found out some things that I need to work on and so did she. After 30 years of marriage, we both are still learning to get better not only as people but as partners for each other. It was an amazing turn of events. I have learned that I need to keep looking to get better. To keep looking to keep my head up, look for the positives and not get so negative & worried about simple & enjoyable things in life. I was reminded about how fun it is to be in the rain a little bit with someone you love. There are plenty of bright sides to things, when normally I am conditioned to see the worst in things. I put out a couple of posts to social media about how wrong or negative I could be and how my wife (knowing these things about me & seeing me at my worst sometimes) still finds the way to love me anyways.
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