I would first like to thank Christine at Fruit In Season for hostessing this Summer's Marriage Mondays while E-Mom at C H R Y S A L I S i s taking a summer break. Thank you Christine for your gracious hospitality!
I'll have to say that I was somewhat excited to see that this month was an "easy" topic for Marriage Monday! It's been unbearably hot in our area of the country, which sometimes just drains my desire to do anything, much less write about marriage. When it's so hot that your brain sweats, it's pretty bad. But, the Lord not only saw fit for me to be off from work today (which is almost unheard of) but He also saw fit to send a much needed rain today. It was not only a refreshing rain for our parched and withered ground, but a rain over my soul also (which, with so much work and the stress that accompanies my work, has felt just as parched as the ground outside). So, when I read that the topic was "Traveling With My Husband", I think I got a little giddy. I actually laughed out loud when I read the topic. I knew IMMEDIATELY what I would write about!
First, you have to understand the difference between me and Rob. If you know anything about "Emergenetics", I am tri-modal--Blue(analytical)/Green(structural)/Yellow(conceptual). What that means in lay terms is that the way I think is split between three different modes of thinking, which means that I have a "committee" going on in my brain. Rob, on the other hand, is very green (structural). This is strictly my opinion, since he hasn't taken the profile. But, I have been through the profile myself and the accompanying seminar and trust me, he's "green". SO, for us to take a trip, my tri-modal way of thinking is paired up with his "green" way of thinking. Green has a list, will stick to the list, will not stray from the list and will not consider too much that the tri-modal brain sitting in the other seat has three different ways of looking at all of the scenarios that will most definitley crop up along the way. (For those of you who have studied the temperaments, I am Sanguine Melancholy and Rob is Melancholy Phlegmatic).
Now, with that out of the way, on with the trip. Picture it. Christmas. 2008. Rob's parents live in North Carolina (near the coast). We live 14 hours away in the DEEP SOUTH, by the Gulf of Mexico. Rob was just reunited with his Dad in October of 2008 after 36 years of being apart (but that is another blog post). So, in December, we made plans to go and spend the week of Christmas with his new found family. It was going to be SUCH a joyous time. There would be a wealth of memories made, good times, good food, lots of love....but there was one small problem. It was a nine pound problem, to be exact. Actually, it was more of an "issue" than a problem. You see, we have a miniature dachshund named Buddy. We adopted Buddy about 2 1/2 years ago when his owner (an elderly gentleman) passed away. And, since the day we got Buddy, the most he has traveled has either been the ten minute drive to my mother's house or a drive to the vet. That's it. No extensive travel for Buddy. No travel experience for Buddy. YIKES....what were we thinking? At any rate, the trip was planned and his parents were looking forward to Buddy coming to visit their dog "Izzy". Really, how bad could it be? Well...we found out how it WOULD be. Did I mention that the trip was 14 hours....one way? Did I mention that it was FREEZING cold outside and that dachshunds don't like to get their paws cold OR wet? Did I mention that Buddy has potty problems when he is not going potty in his own territory? I didn't did I?
I know that you're wondering how Rob and I fit into all of this. Well, remember how I explained the differences in our thinking in the beginning of this post? Well, Rob (green green green) has a destination, knows how long it "should" take to get there. He has the "necessary" clothing and toiletries, nothing extra. NOTHING EXTRA. He has a couple of designated stops....and that's it. He doesn't stray from the course. His expecations are to be there in the alotted amount of time, no dilly-dallying. Period. Oh, and the dog...he'll be fine. Quit worrying about it. He'll be fine. He'll have US in the car. He'll be FINE.
Then there's "The Wife", that's me. Remember how I told you that my brain thinks in three very equal ways (blue/green/yellow)? Well, I had it all worked out too. I had all of the Wal-Marts saved into the GPS on my Blackberry (and his Blackberry, in case something happened to mine). I had all of the Dunkin Donuts locations saved too, because we would need coffee for sure since we were going to travel at night. I had baby wipes, paper towels, snacks, drinks, iPod, protable DVD player, all necessary cords, and the kitchen sink in the car. I was prepared for ALL situations. I also knew how long it should take to get there (I have "green" in me too, you know). It's just that since I can see three out of the four ways that the brain thinks, I not only analyzed the trip, but I structured it and knew the entire concept of how the trip should pan out.
Well, here we go. It's 10:00 pm. The car looks like the sleigh in the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"...we even had the little dog, minus the antlers tied on his head. We stopped at my parents' house on the way out since they are right off of the interstate. My Mom, thank the good Lord, had a moment of clarity and decided that even though (in our hearts) we didn't want to "drug the dog", that it would be wise if we took some doggy sedative with us. PRAISE GOD FOR MY MOM! We got in the car and Buddy had a nervous breakdown the minute we pulled out of the driveway and got on the interstate going in the opposite direction of where he knows that "his house" should be. "Green" decided that Buddy would be fine and that "in a few minutes", he'll settle down. He has US, remember?
TWO HOURS into the trip and Buddy is still having a nervous breakdown. He's crying, he's howling, he's moaning, he's groaning. FINALLY, I look at "Green" and beg to give Buddy some sedative. BADDA BING BADDA BOOM....the dog's asleep. But how long is it going to last....we're only two hours into the trip? Well, I had only given him a half, so my blue/green/yellow brain had the rest of the sedative planned out based on the various stops we would need to make and based on the level of consciousness that Buddy should achieve at these stops. "Green" is just ready to get there.
So, after four hundred and fifty stops "TRYING" to get a drugged up groggy dog to "do his thing", we finally got there! I will tell you that it was the LONGEST sixteen hours of my life (should have been fourteen, but we had to stop at a rest area somewhere in Georgia at 4:00am and take a nap). But in all of that, it was not only the LONGEST trip that I have ever taken with Rob, but it was the BEST trip that I have ever taken with him. He's my hero. He's my protector. He always has my best interest at heart (even though we got on each other's nerves a couple a few LOTS of times before the trip was over). I still would not trade that trip for any amount of money in the world. We laughed, we sang, we watched I watched movies, we took care of our little drunk puppy....and we did it TOGETHER. We learned a lot too. We learned so much that we stayed in a hotel on the way back once we were half way home...no more driving straight through. The devil would have loved nothing better than us to have driven straight through on the way home...but praise be to God for the clarity that He gave to both of us to break it up coming home!
I love my husband. He is a gift from the Lord. I love traveling and I love traveling with family and friends. But, I DEARLY LOVE traveling with my husband. He's my favorite travel companion in the whole wide world. My little tri-modal brain has about 843 trips planned out for us for the next 50 years. And I want to go on EVERY SINGLE ONE of them, as long as my "green" Rob is by my side!
