Of Weddings, Raccoons and Tornadoes (part one)

"I need a vacation from you" Renee said with an exasperated sigh.

"I need one from you too" I replied back.

This was at the end of a long argument that kept taking us in circles. It was, unfortunately, at the beginning of a five hour car drive in which it was impossible to be in different rooms for a moment, much less take a "vacation" from one another. This was how our long weekend began.

Let me begin by saying that Renee and I have very similar personalities. There is not much we disagree on, but when we do it is pretty tough to keep our tempers in check because we are both very stubborn. Another way in which we differ is how we interact with each other during an argument. There comes a point when all Renee wants and needs is to be left alone. I wish I could say that as her husband I am more than willing to give her all the silence she needs. Unfortunately, while silence is her friend during a debate, it is my enemy. I want a resolution and I want it without delay. Everything inside of me screams to "fix it, fix it now". I persistently try to talk it out and finish the thing; I don't want to let it hang over my head. It's very hard for me to make myself shut up and just walk away. Given this information, you can see why locking the two of us in a small confined space for five hours under such conditions could make for an interesting situation.

I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected when stress levels were so high. You see, Renee's sister, Dawn, was going to be married in Tennessee on Friday, and Renee was the maid of honor (or matron of honor- they've referred to it as both). Our original plan was to leave for the wedding immediately after work on Wednesday. This would have left us with some spare time on Thursday morning to accomplish some last minute errands around town before the chaos ensued. Unfortunately, about ten minutes before our work days were over the skies opened up and the rains began to fall in a heavy downpour. It was only 5pm, but I swear it looked as if the sun had already set. Because of the bad weather, we decided to wait until Thursday morning to leave.

Thursday morning was a blur of last minute packing and pet arrangements. By the time we finally hit the road it was no wonder we had resorted to bickering. Admittedly, I tend to narrate my every thought aloud and without filter (if you don't believe me, click here). What's amazing to me is even with this self awareness, there are moments that I simply cannot keep myself from rambling on and on; just spewing unproductive babble. It is in those moments that I wish I could hire someone whose sole responsibility would be to apply duct tape to my mouth at all of the appropriate moments. I'm sure Renee would support this idea.

Marriage is a funny thing. You commit yourself to someone, knowing that by doing so you have agreed to take on the best and worst versions of that person, and trusting that their love will be strong enough to do the same for you. I believe I am one lucky guy to have found such a person. Now if only I can find that duct tape...