While I am a Communications major at Bethel, I still have a LOT to learn about communicating!  More and more in my life and marriage I am really realizing how much of a role communication plays in my life.

For instance, last night Nathan and I got into a little tiff about something really minor (dinner, if you really must know).  The disagreement left with me semi-storming out of the house, proclaiming I was going to see a movie by myself.  As I drove down the road my overreaction and anger started to dissipate and my fuzzy, anger-muddled brain began to realize all of the immaturity I had given into.

I started to analyze the situation and realized that I really didn’t want to go to the movie by myself, and if I did go I would spend the whole time re-hashing our argument and would miss out on the film.  I pulled into a gas station to fill up the trusty Caddy and give myself a few minutes to calm down even further.  I came to the realization that I needed to go home, however I didn’t want to admit I was wrong, because really we all know it was Nathan’s fault (jk).  That’s when I began to understand that my pride was what was really keeping me from going home, I didn’t want to admit I was wrong.  However, I knew that if I didn’t want our evening to be completely ruined I needed to swallow my pride and go home and communicate with my husband.

So that is what I did.  I wasn’t completely calm, but I did state (not using “you language” you language can just make things worse sometimes) what made me feel frustrated and how it could have been improved.  Nathan rehashed his side of things as well and then helped with dinner.  Over dinner we exchanged apologies and a kiss and all was well.  Followed by seeing a movie together (our first in almost a year!)

Always remember to communicate, make sure your expectations are aligned, and try to not let your pride get in your way!  Nathan and I both had different expectations about our evening last night and that’s where our night began to go wrong.  However, because I was able to put aside my pride and we both took the time to listen to each other we ended up salvaging our evening and having a wonderful time