No time for a longish entry tonight -- or this weekend. Tomorrow evening we are headed to Corolla, North Carolina, a city on a strip of beach known as the Outer Banks (sometimes abbreviated OBX as I've come to learn). It should be fun -- it had better be fun, as this trip almost ruined my marriage. Allow me to explain.
S has been saying that she wants to take Lil' S to the beach for a long time now,* and we have some friends who get a house for a week at OBX every year who gave us an open invitation to come stay with them. So when S brought up the idea of a visit a few months ago -- we'd drive up Thursday night and come back Sunday afternoon -- I said sure. But I did so under two assumptions I later found out were wrong.
First, I thought we were going Labor Day weekend. This is because the email S forwarded me about this event was labeled "Labor Day Weekend". However, that was describing when our friends would arrive. We would be coming the weekend after Labor Day. I didn't get this, and once I saw "Labor Day", the dates in the email didn't mean anything to me -- I had Labor Day in my head. As did S, by the way; she thought it was Labor Day also, so she never corrected me.
Second, I was under the impression it was a four-hour drive when in fact it is likely closer to a six-hour drive. When S first Google mapped it, she accidentally put in the wrong address -- she put in the house where our friends picked up the keys for the rental house. But the actual house is another few hours away, because you have to drive down the coast across a bridge and then back up the coast, which apparently can take a while.
Now can you guess why these two things were such a big deal? Can you guess why I was devastated once I learned we'd be driving Thursday night and Sunday afternoon this week instead of last week -- and driving several more hours to boot? I'll give you a hint.
The opening weekend of the NFL season is literally my favorite sporting event of the year. And because the Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year, they play in the Thursday night opener. So basically our travel plans were now perfectly concocted to prevent me from enjoying one of my favorite weekends of the year.**
Anyway, I now didn't want to go to the beach (not just because football -- the extra time in the car was also a huge factor, as is the fact the forecast calls for rain much of the time we will be there). And so S got mad and said that I was trying back out of a commitment. And then I got mad and said she gave me bad information. And then we both got mad because it's 90 degrees here and our air conditioner ran out of coolant (refilled now, thankfully).
But we reached a compromise: we leave tomorrow evening about 7:00 p.m. and driving back Saturday evening about 7:00 p.m. This way S gets to go the beach with her family; I get to watch the 'Hawks on Thursday (I made sure there is a TV at the house) and be back in time for the Sunday games; we will likely hit less traffic; Lil' S can sleep the entire time; and I'm a more alert driver at night anyway. Win. Win. Win. Win. Win.
Well, I still have to spend 12 hours in car this weekend -- that didn't get resolved -- but sometimes it's the price a man must pay for a happy wife and a weekend of football.
Until next time ...
*I personally don't understand the obsession with taking a two-year old to a "destination" when a) he won't remember it, b) he'd be just as happy at the splash park down the street.
**During our first round of arguments, S was annoyed that I wanted to change our plans to watch the Seahawks because "it's just one football game". True. But the best way I can explain it is, imagine you have a TV show that you really love -- like how people loved Breaking Bad -- and the first episode of a new season is about to air. Further suppose it's been revealed that a big event is going to happen on this episode, but nobody knows what it is, and the catch is, if you don't watch it when it airs then this big event will be spoiled for you. There is no way in this hypothetical you can avoid spoilers. If this was the case, watching the episode would be a big deal, right? That's how I feel about the Seahawks game.
S has been saying that she wants to take Lil' S to the beach for a long time now,* and we have some friends who get a house for a week at OBX every year who gave us an open invitation to come stay with them. So when S brought up the idea of a visit a few months ago -- we'd drive up Thursday night and come back Sunday afternoon -- I said sure. But I did so under two assumptions I later found out were wrong.
First, I thought we were going Labor Day weekend. This is because the email S forwarded me about this event was labeled "Labor Day Weekend". However, that was describing when our friends would arrive. We would be coming the weekend after Labor Day. I didn't get this, and once I saw "Labor Day", the dates in the email didn't mean anything to me -- I had Labor Day in my head. As did S, by the way; she thought it was Labor Day also, so she never corrected me.
Second, I was under the impression it was a four-hour drive when in fact it is likely closer to a six-hour drive. When S first Google mapped it, she accidentally put in the wrong address -- she put in the house where our friends picked up the keys for the rental house. But the actual house is another few hours away, because you have to drive down the coast across a bridge and then back up the coast, which apparently can take a while.
Now can you guess why these two things were such a big deal? Can you guess why I was devastated once I learned we'd be driving Thursday night and Sunday afternoon this week instead of last week -- and driving several more hours to boot? I'll give you a hint.
The opening weekend of the NFL season is literally my favorite sporting event of the year. And because the Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year, they play in the Thursday night opener. So basically our travel plans were now perfectly concocted to prevent me from enjoying one of my favorite weekends of the year.**
Anyway, I now didn't want to go to the beach (not just because football -- the extra time in the car was also a huge factor, as is the fact the forecast calls for rain much of the time we will be there). And so S got mad and said that I was trying back out of a commitment. And then I got mad and said she gave me bad information. And then we both got mad because it's 90 degrees here and our air conditioner ran out of coolant (refilled now, thankfully).
But we reached a compromise: we leave tomorrow evening about 7:00 p.m. and driving back Saturday evening about 7:00 p.m. This way S gets to go the beach with her family; I get to watch the 'Hawks on Thursday (I made sure there is a TV at the house) and be back in time for the Sunday games; we will likely hit less traffic; Lil' S can sleep the entire time; and I'm a more alert driver at night anyway. Win. Win. Win. Win. Win.
Well, I still have to spend 12 hours in car this weekend -- that didn't get resolved -- but sometimes it's the price a man must pay for a happy wife and a weekend of football.
Until next time ...
*I personally don't understand the obsession with taking a two-year old to a "destination" when a) he won't remember it, b) he'd be just as happy at the splash park down the street.
**During our first round of arguments, S was annoyed that I wanted to change our plans to watch the Seahawks because "it's just one football game". True. But the best way I can explain it is, imagine you have a TV show that you really love -- like how people loved Breaking Bad -- and the first episode of a new season is about to air. Further suppose it's been revealed that a big event is going to happen on this episode, but nobody knows what it is, and the catch is, if you don't watch it when it airs then this big event will be spoiled for you. There is no way in this hypothetical you can avoid spoilers. If this was the case, watching the episode would be a big deal, right? That's how I feel about the Seahawks game.
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