As I reflect on the past several months of blogless life (Ok, Sarah has posted a coulple, but I've been silent for some time), it occurred to me that a not so unique set of circumstances came into alignment, and I will enumerate them now:
1) Sara's Phone gets Stolen.
Yeah - while she was at work, and in an area only accessable to employees. One might suspect that because her phone was stolen, we stopped blogging because she was now unable to easily take photos and post them here. WRONG! When the stores opened the next day, we had a new phone, and within minutes, the new phone was, as they say, the same as the old phone. This is no accident. Apple had lost/broke/stolen phones in mind when they designed the iCloud. Apple also makes it ridiculously easy to share across devices. Sarah's new phone was but one in a cascade of new Apple devices that propegated into our immediate and extended familites. I even upgraded to a newer iPhone. (Remember when I got Sarah's old iPhone? "Ever Since I Got an iPhone) With iMessage and unlimited texting we started sharing more than ever, just not on the blog.
As a side note, I distinctly remember the first time I saw a commercial for a camera phone thinking, "That is a total waste of money. You can only send photos to other people who have a camera phone - and that's nobody! What a joke. No one will buy one of those." It's not the only time I've been wrong.
2) We Got Happy
Almost exactly a year ago today I graduated from an Air Force "leadership" school. As it turns out, I wan not fond of the curriculum. I was not quiet about this displeasure, and unfortunately, not professional about it either. This landed me in some administrative hot water, but I did manage to graduate. There was one lesson I really latched onto - it was about personality types, and how we can work WITH them, instead of AGAINST them. This is really difficult for my personality.
Vegas renewing of vows - that's a whole other blog post...
As it turned out, Sarah and I had been going through a bit of a rough patch for several months before I departed for school. Time away from my family not fixing the situation combined with my frustration with what I saw as a mostly impotent curriculum wasn't helping. Time alone to reflect with this personality tool was. I knew I had to share this with Sarah, but I also knew Sarah would enjoy Air Force curriculum about as much as I did, so, when I returned home from the course, I found another way. (Book HERE)
The real ah-ha moment came one day while I was reading the section on interaction of different spousal personality types. There was a write up on each of the paired types. Sarah and I already had discussed what type we thought the other was, and had come to a strong consensus in this regard. So I quickly flipped to the page describing interactions of our two types. I don't remember where I was, but I do remember Sarah and I were apart that day. I took photos of the two pages (new phones, remember?) and emailed them to Sarah. I immediately called her and told her to read the attachment in the email I just sent, while I was on the phone. Helarious laughter quickly ensued from both ends of the line. It felt as though the authors had been sitting in our living room for the past 6 years documenting our every move and distilling it into 2 pages of observations. It did not take long for us to adopt a more understanding and supporting role as spouses and permanent roommates. Don't get me wrong - we still have our tiffs, but life is better now than I've ever experienced before.
Thanks to all those who helped make Vegas even more of a special surprise.
3) We Got Bussy
When you love and support someone, hanging out with them is tons of fun. Who knew!? Throw in a couple of hell raising life forms which you are suppose to be "nurturing" and the days melt away quickly. By the time you are done with the fun, then do those other important things like feeding, clothing, bathing, and cleaning the kids, and then you do the same for yourself, there isn't much energy left to do anything other than crawl into bed so you can do it all again tomorrow. Because, I'll be honest, I'd rather (insert random awesome life event) than write the blog.
Denver Cruisers - Soul Train Ride
Resolution?
Although the need to easily share stories of life with those we care about is being fulfilled via other mechanisms, that was not the only purpose for the blog. Reflection upon events allows me/us to catalog, add context, and in a quasi-diary way, document our thoughts and perspectives of events near the time of their occurrence. I often rummage through the archives and reread posts several years old, or conversly remember an event and wonder why I didn't write about it. I hope my children, when they are growing, will read these stories and it will prompt them to prod their parents for more details. But not until after they say something to the effect of, "Look at these old photos Mom & Dad took with their so called "smart phones." They aren't even holographic! You guys are so old!"
High on life - atop Mt Si.
