This past weekend, my husband and I were a part of a "Research Group". In part of the research, we went to fort Myers "Escape Room Adventures" where a team of about 4-5 people are placed in a puzzle-laden room with 1 hour to complete various tasks and complete a mission of sorts. Paco and I were in the same room, and entered with two other team members, to begin. The clock started to count down, and my logical mind immediately began to overthink the room.
There wasn't anything but a few locked boxes visible. A bed and a dresser and a desk. No shelves or keys or cupboards. No random sequence of patterns or cards or clues to "begin". "Where do we even start?" I said out loud. I turned to look at what I had already seen, when Paco shouted for me. In the .08 milliseconds it took for me to turn around, he had uncovered about 8 clues by simply "overturning" the room. He had now collected enough data to start processing puzzles but didn't know where to start. While our two other teammates were essential and worked on other puzzles in the room, Paco and I left that day realizing important truths about our marriage. I'll summarize a few of the main ones here: -He is a "common sense" thinker, I am "analytical". -he is "big picture", I am the "details". -We each have strengths and weaknesses. Without recognition of both, we put ourselves, our spouse, our entire team at risk. -Don't underestimate the skills of your spouse. They are vital to your success. These are just the surface of the life-lessons we were reminded of during the adventure. But how awesome to contemplate. How many things in parenting, in my everyday would I have missed because I over-think the details and miss the bigger picture? How many times have I been so busy processing data from a given situation, that my common sense has been lost. How many times in the last few years have I been stuck or struggling to make progress in an area, but refused to allow Paco room to use his skill-set to his full potential? How many times have I risked putting our entire team- our family as a whole- at risk because I chose to ignore Paco and his "differences" or ideas because they were not my own. In case you're wondering, we didn't "escape" the room. We missed it by a few seconds and while working on the last clue. And if you know me, you know I was furious and angry at myself for the loss. But it was only a game, and my frustration faded a few minutes later. But marriage, and my family are areas that I don't necessarily want to "escape", but I definitely want to be successful with. And I don't have time to ignore the unique abilities and gifting and differences of each team member. Happy anniversary Paco. I love you. And I love everything about you. I love that you're taller than me, and bigger than me, and stronger than me. I love that you're more strict with our kids than me, and more gracious on days when I'm calloused by emotions. I love that you're more understanding than me, more even-tempered than me, gentler than me. I love that you're more patient than me, and more friendly than me. We may not have any friends if it weren't for you. Ha! But seriously. I love that you're more "big picture" than me, and always thinking and planning for trips and ideas and adventures years down the road. I love that you're more thoughtful than me, and more practical than me, and more of a risk taker than me. We would've never owned a home, had another baby, dreamt another dream if it wasn't for you. And I'm so very thankful that you're more forgiving than me, more uneasily angered than me, more quick to forget than me...or our marriage probably wouldn't have made it this far. I love you babe. It's been one heck of an adventure! The next time we are locked in a room together without the kids, let's not try so hard to escape!
0 Comments
|
AuthorBri is the mom to four little people, the wife to a gentle giant, and a lover of Jesus. She's figuring out the best ways to parent by trial and error, and sharing her struggles, successes, and stories with you! Archives
June 2018
Categories |