If you’ve read this blog for any length of time at all, you already know that I’m pretty crazy about my husband. We’ve been married for nearly 28 years (back then it was legal for four-year-olds to marry, ba dum bum!) and we’re still making people sick with our hand-holding and happy togetherness.
I often wonder how I got so lucky, but then I correct myself and think about how luck probably had just a little bit to do with it. Good relationships are hard work, and we really do work on our marriage a lot.
Whenever I butt in on a conversation about marriages or relationships in person or on Facebook (and oh, do I!), I usually tell people that communication is the most important thing in a good relationship, but it’s really only one important thing. Another is compromise.
Compromise is not only “Hey, since you made dinner I’ll do the dishes!” or “If you cut our kids’ fingernails and toenails, I’ll clean up ALL the vomit from now until they’re old enough to do it themselves” (that’s an actual pact we made; I DEFINITELY got the better end of that one. Nail clipping FTW!). It extends to other things, too. Like activity selection.
I happen to know, because I have an amazing husband who is super sweet, that Jim will go out of his way to accompany me to places and activities that he wouldn’t choose in a million years if I weren’t around.
Compromise has to go both ways, though. That’s why, when he excitedly told me a couple of months ago that Walter Trout, currently his favorite Blues artist, would be playing at Chicago’s Buddy Guy’s Legends in August, I was more than happy to be his date.
Even after he told me Walter wasn’t going on until 10:30 p.m.
Even then, I was all in.
And you know what? Aside from the teeny tiny snafu that involved us arriving at 9:00 for the opening act and thinking that we’d totally get a table or at least a seat but really we didn’t because 9:00 was too late for that and we were part of the crowd that had to stand from the time we got there until Walter Trout finished at 12:30 a.m. and OH MY BACK, how it was on FIRE by the end, we had an awesome time. He was SO, SO happy and for me, seeing that huge grin on his face while Walter played was worth the price of admission all on its own.
It was fun to step out of the box and go somewhere we’ve never been, at a time we’d normally be going to bed, enjoying live music in a genre that we BOTH enjoy (*waves to Walter*) but never really considered seeing up close and personal before. (It was also pretty romantic.) We’re definitely going back to see other Blues acts.
When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? I highly recommend it. It might prevent the blues. See what I did there?
One Comment
Sylvia Joy
Good to have a date out with the one you love. Love Grandma W