Vacation

A seasoned married friend of mine recently told me that vacation adds strain on a marriage. It is a stressful time, of quick decision-making and temporarily staying outside of your comfort zone. We have certainly experienced this strain recently, and come out victorious. We had a few intense spats along the way but we were reminded that "my spouse is not the enemy." We are on the same team! I often misunderstand my husband's choice of words as an intentional assault on me. Many times, he is expressing his frustration about a circumstance that is beyond his control. Very often, his frustration seems to be directed towards me because he is a hot-blooded Italian man with a loud voice. I need to remind him gently that he is elevating his voice at the wrong person, just as he often reminds me to speak up. I truly believe that we are meant to have dissonance in our marriage. it is a musical term defined by Merriam-Webster to be: a mingling of discordant sounds; especially :  a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord. When these same discordant sounds are submitted to the Master Conductor, He can lead them to sound harmonious together. We have found this to be true in our marriage. Much of what we do together comes out very well, when we are following Jesus, our Master Conductor!
We do have a lot of fun together on vacation. I've always loved our adventures together, just he and I. We are creating new memories with our boys now. During his time off, I was reminded to lovingly submit, to be forgiving when his decisions fail, and to celebrate his leadership when they don't.