Together is Better

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Today Keith and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary!
It’s really hard to believe the years have passed so quickly.  We celebrated early with a night away to Austin, Texas and the Westin at the Domain.  We had an early dinner at Gloria’s…..sounds Mexican but it is Latin and the food and service were great….$4 house margaritas that will knock your socks off!
Marriage
We have had a relatively mild summer in Texas and it was a perfect night to be outdoors.  Top Golf seems to be a happening place these days and happened to be less than a mile from our hotel so we took an evening stroll to check it out. The wait was only 30 minutes and we waited at the very nicely stocked bar.  A waitress was assigned to us and she was very attentive.
Now…let me start by saying neither Keith or I play golf….like ever..but we had so much fun hitting the balls and attempting to hit the colored targets.  There are several levels for the game but we stuck with the beginner level the entire hour.  We laughed at and with each other and really just enjoyed having some fun alone!

As I thought back on our night together it really made me realize how much our relationship has grown. Thirteen years ago…heck maybe even five years ago, this night would not have been quite the same.  I have a fairly competitive nature and in the past if I was totally failing at something, laughing at myself would not have been an option.  I realized I have spent a lot of time in this marriage competing with my own husband. Always wanting to be the better parent, the more successful spouse, the better organized partner…..are we not in this game together?  Instead of comparing the things that are oh so different about the two of us…which I might point out is really what brought us together anyway…I should be looking at how our differences make our marriage stronger. Our strengths should work together as we, as a couple, compete together in this crazy world.

So on this night we laughed, together, at how bad we both really stunk at hitting a golf ball and truly enjoyed each other’s company!

Marriage is hard y’all!  The struggle every day to love another person selflessly, with compassion and forgiveness and grace is always going to be challenging. At the end of the day my spirit is competitive…and I’m going to choose to compete together to make this marriage one others will want to follow and that will make me a real winner after all!