[at-l] Hut Trip Follies...or the very definition of snafu (longish)

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

More LOL. Scene: Our honeymoon. We drove to the Adirondacks. "Let's drive 
up Whiteface" says I (they built a road to the top, well almost the top, in 
the Depression). We got to the parking lot  a hundred feet or so below the 
summit and I coaxed her up the winding trail to the top. Unfortunately she 
had forgotten her sneakers when packing and had only heels with her. Hey, 
they were low heels, not the spiky ones. About halfway she says "I can't do 
this in heels. Let's go back". "But," says I "We're halfway there already. 
It's as far down as it is up. We can take the elevator back down". A brief 
silence... "There's an ELEVATOR?" she says.

37 years, 7 months later she still hasn't killed me (though I think it may 
have crossed her mind at that moment) and we're still married.

Chainsaw gives excellent advice below and as Dr. Phil (my wife likes Dr. 
Phil) says "these are things you have to negotiate between you". If you 
can't reach an agreement you can both be happy with then it's better to 
know it up front before commitments are made. You shouldn't have to give up 
your lifestyle for someone else, nor they theirs.

At 03:59 PM 3/10/2004 -0500, Dave Hicks wrote:
>LOL -- Echoes of a trip nearly 40 years ago.
>
>For what it may be worth:
>
>Main characters = my bride and I.
>
>Condensed version:
>
>A twenty-something outdoors type decided to slowly introduce his young bride
>to the outdoor life -- no backpacking, no real roughing it, etc. at first.
>
>I belonged to a competitive white water club.  However, each year we had a
>family weekend, flat water, drive-in camping, lots of other wives and
>significant others, lots of kids, "camping" at a well lit "camp site" with
>hot water showers, flush toilets, washing machines, etc.  I rented a wall
>tent, cots, etc.  Made sure we were close to the facilities.  Etc.  Hey I
>was going to ease her into it, right?
>
>Bottom line:
>
>She was miserable.
>
>Outcome:
>
>Our 40th anniversary will be this June.  How come?  We both learned to
>support each other's life style, with a lot of give and take.  I still don't
>do ballet & opera, and only occasionally go to the theater, or movies.
>However, I make sure that she does.  She doesn't go backpacking, fishing,
>etc.  However, she makes sure I do.  By February, each year we have laid out
>the plan of major events for that year, some for her, some for me, some
>together.  IMHO, if your basic values and ethics mesh, and you both take
>care for each other, the priorities of life have a way of working out.
>
>Good luck, what ever way you go at this fork in the trail and may the
>outcome be right for both of you.
>
>Chainsaw
>
>BTW -- for the guys on the list, a bit of housework, cooking, taking care of
>the kids so that she can have a day, or so, to herself, etc can go a long
>way toward a weekend, or week of your vacation time, backpacking.  BTDT.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Paul Magnanti" <pmags@yahoo.com>
>To: "Gary Roberts" <GRoberts@npr.org>; <at-l@backcountry.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 1:02 PM
>Subject: [at-l] Hut Trip Follies...or the very definition of snafu (longish)
>
>SNIP
> >>
>Long story short, as with many things in life, a tense
>episode brought out underlying issues (Won't bother
>with the details but it can broken down into:
>--I want to play outside too much and she wonders if
>it will be a priority over say, a family? (Head for
>the hills Pablo thinks!)
>-- Frustation of one person having to take care of
>another person completley (be it outdoors or day-to
>day life) vs. one person not being as patient as they
>should..etc..etc.
><<
>SNIP
>
>
>
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