Go Anywhere, Do Anything
Chris:
Over Memorial Day weekend, Michelle and I went wheeling in Moab, Utah, earning some Jeep badges along the way. We realized that some of the best off-road advice can be applied to our marriage.
Here is our top five.
Michelle:
Number Five-Things will get gnarly.
Moab is known for some of the best and trickiest off-road trails. But things can go from a calm day in nature to gnarly, real quick. We have learned that the same is true in our relationship. We have had a lot of smooth adventures in our marriage. But the true test of us comes from how we pull together when life does not go as planned. We weren’t sure how my job would be impacted when the new administration froze educational funding, but our continued communication and connection were the lift kit we needed to prevent bottoming out.
Chris:
Number Four-Don’t go it alone.
We have one married couple, who we have written about before, who are such close friends that we consider them to be family. We did the trails together and had walkie talkies to keep us connected. They were also the first ones to guide us through a tight spot and to take photos when something looked picture-perfect. These friends, a lifeline on the Jeep trail, are also a lifeline to us as a couple. They have seen the good, the bad and the super ugly and they provide the exact modification we need to right the rig.
Michelle:
Numbers Three and Two-Be prepared and Be prepared some more.
When we were planning this trip with our friends, they sent us a checklist of all of the things we needed for the trip. Add to that, the daily Amazon packages that arrived at our house with “little things” for the trip. Those little things, new brakes, new shocks, a new grill and the list goes on. Then, each afternoon when I would come home from work, Chris would be studying video of the various trails we were facing and how to maneuver through each. In our relationship, Chris is the one who is overly prepared and I tend to make it up as I go along. But we are a great balance for each other, preventing a disastrous rollover.
Chris:
Number One-Scrapes and dings are badges of honor.
When I hit a tree and took one of our side mirrors off the Jeep, our friends quickly reminded us that epoxy fixes most things and, if that is the worst thing that happened, we did okay! We will celebrate our twenty-year wedding anniversary on June 25th, and we have worn each year with pride. Like our Jeep, we have not ventured on the marriage trail unscathed but we have learned from our scrapes and navigate each new obstacle with a deeper sense of what to expect. We believe our marriage is like our favorite Jeep saying, “Go Anywhere, Do Anything”.
