Relationship Rewards

Good relationships take work. While on vacation this week we connected with my sister and her husband. The sis and I have had a rocky year. You have to invest time and energy in to get something out. Last night we had beers with a couple and the conversation turned to friendships. Michael said that guys tend to have one big fight that cements the friendship. That rang true. Though I don’t know if it’s the fight that makes it or that you’ve been close enough for long enough so that you go at it.

It’s like that with your kids or in a good marriage. A friend of ours that just celebrated 60 years of marriage says that a good marriage means, “It’s safe to say you’re sorry.” You work things out. You invest the time. You create those memories even if it’s the stupid jokes you tell at the dinner table. One of my now favorite stories is that my dear daughter threw up in my shirt pocket when she was little. You share sickness and you revel in health.

Vacation was different this year. It wasn’t all about Sea World or the road never travelled. It was about the laughter when a transient scared my daughter in the Gaslamp District and the Kettle corn that my wife bought and my daughter inhaled. It was about comparing food favorites and food nightmares over a homemade corn muffin slathered in honey-butter. It was seaweed necklaces and cell phone videos. It’s less and less about the experience. It’s more and more about the time and the blessings the investment produces.