Surprises

Expectations are funny things. The fact that they can be altered so effortlessly or that they can dash ones’ hopes to the ground in a second are something you don’t really know when you have them. Such was the case with this little prissy, know-it-all bride.

Before I ever had a groom on the horizon, I had a list of what my husband and my marriage would be; the ‘rules’ we would follow in our house and how we would conduct our lives…that alone is kind of funny now, when I think about it. All that life under the bridge changes perspective.At the time, the list was paramount to perfection.

One of the things on the list was that we would have no TV in our house, we wouldn’t let our kids consume the ‘boob tube’.

I am rolling with laughter as I write this, 40-50 years after the fact, because that couldn’t be farther from how we actually lived and raised our kids…

This little story illustrates just how my life changed as a new bride within the first years of our marriage…

Married about a year, we decided to take a trip up the coast of California. We had packed our cooler and clothes and our two kids into our VW Van and set off. Our goal was Patrick’s Point at the northern=most tip of California.

We were full of excitement and adventure as we meandered our way along the coast, staying at various campgrounds and sightseeing along the way. Never mind that traveling with two small children had its pitfalls, or a baby in carseat that needed to nurse every couple hours and was highly annoyed being contained, or a toddler that had to be entertained beyond the books and toys I had brought, also contained in a wretched carseat.. never mind that stressfulness… we were on an adventure of a lifetime and we were excited!

After a couple days travel, we arrived at a campground in Patrick’s Point. It was everything my husband had said it was. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The ocean crashed up on rocks right beside the campground and you could hear it all through the night lulling us to sleep. We hiked the rocks, Dan with a large baby in a pack on his back, me holding the hand of my three-year old. It was indeed heavenly.

The evening brought a campfire stew and roasted marshmallows. The summer Olympics was happening at the same time and we lamented we were missing some of the events that we both enjoyed watching. Oh! Not a problem, says husband… I happened to bring a TV with us.

Surprise!

I had an internal crisis about how I hated TV; how I hated TV while camping; and how that was most definitely NOT on my list!

My clever, creative husband hooked a tiny little TV up to the battery of our VW bus, sat the TV on the bumper, set up our chairs and invited me to watch the Olympics with him…

How could my tight-laced list not succumb to such sweetness and fun?! I plopped myself down in front of that grainy little TV and enjoyed the blessed gift my husband gave me. Even the kids were fascinated…

The novelty alone was a delight! Who does this?!

This event is just one of the many compromises that took place in our lives as a married couple; Along this forty year road…It is such a sweet memory. One that I don’t think I will ever forget. It paved the way for our marriage to bend with the wind and flow with the rivers as we grew in love and respect for one another.

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Philippians 2:4







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