Adventure is about to strike Household Bushatz in the form of tent camping.
While that may sound like no big deal to some of you, it is a HUGE deal for me. I'm not quite the opposite of an outdoor girl. I enjoy hiking, sports like running and triathlon, picnics and the observation of nature from a careful distance, for example.
But I also love an actual bed. And indoor plumbing. And daily housekeeping service.
And I really, really don't like bugs.
Ever since we got married almost five years ago, my husband has been pleading with me to go tent camping. First the conversations were audible ones. "We can go camping!" he'd say. "We'll have so much fun!"
Those slowly morphed into silent pleading with his beautiful man eyes. "Go outdoors with me," they beg. "I want to be with you under the stars."
But instead of "stars" I hear "with all the bugs." And the conversation is shut down.
Recently, however, I've realized that maybe, just maybe I'm missing the boat on this one. It's not that I've had a change of heart on the bug thing. It's that I really, truly DO enjoy making my husband happy. And surely camping isn't so detestable that I can't manage to enjoy it just for his sake.
It was with that on my mind that I saw this quote this week on a blog written by a MilSpouse friend stationed OCONUS.
"May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy." -- James Dillet Freeman.
The line comes from the poem "Blessings for a Marriage," which blogger Meg had read at their wedding. And it perfectly communicates what I really want in my relationship with my military man. I want to find happiness in unexpected places -- and I want to do it while I am making him happy.
So I will go camping with my husband and our grubby little boys whose pockets will no doubt be stuffed with gross bugs. And I'll do it betting that there's a chance I'll actually find out that schleping to a porta-potty isn't so bad after all -- especially when paired with those blissfully happy man eyes.
Because making him happy can be my happy, too.
