Tuesday! Publish day is Tuesday

 If this is going to work, I need to stick to the program...

When I decided to start writing a blog I had the idea of publishing each Tuesday. I even said this to Gareth - Tuesday is publish day! It needs to be regular and consistent. He wrote it on the blackboard, where all our ideas and disciplines get written. There in plain site, to remind us of what we said.

 ...and then...I published last Friday. 

So this is a re-set post.

The other thingie I said was that I would never mention the C word again. For the record, the C word now has 2 meanings - sickness and weather! Not mentioning them again. 

This coming Saturday is our 

wedding anniversary.

 17 years married. 7 years of friendship before that.

I know I am lucky in love. I do not ever, not for one second, ever take Gareth and I's relationship for granted. We are lucky. We love, like and respect each other. 

We have worked together for a long time. Our first job together was painting a foot bridge to a platform of boat moorings on The Thames. We did a good job. From scraping off
the old paint, preping and re-painting. It was hard work. Gareth does not slack off any task he is assigned. If you work with him, you keep up, or bugger off. I kept up.

It's not every couple that can work together. 

That's not a negative on the relationship. 

It's just a fact.

Gareth and I are lucky enough that we can work together. 

One of the all time classic tests of a relationship is putting up a tent.  You know the ones with multiple poles and pegs. The instructions have been lost for a decade The bits of pole are no longer labeled. No-one is even sure if all the bits are in the bag...Yep...

We own a caravan now.

When Gareth and I first came home, from England, we went camping often. We purchased a 6-man tent we could stand-up in with room for a double air mattress. We still have that tent. 

In those early days there was a lot of chatter as we put up the tent. Gareth would be inside the canvas trying to have 4 critical poles meet in the center while calling instructions out to me - which made no bloody sense. 

What pole?

What does, Push it this way! even mean, when you can't see the person!!

They were trying times. After a couple of years of camping trips, we got quieter. And a few years ago, we realized we could get the whole camp site - tent, coffee, wine, fishing gear...all set up, with barely a word. We know what to do and when to do it. And we play to our strengths.

We have a pergola which fits next to our caravan. It's a great extension to the awning. Jacob helps Gareth put this up. I set up chillie bins and chill the drinks. 

Playing to our strengths. 

There is admin to do at Toad Hall. Taking a booking or answering an email are basic tasks that do require use of the keyboard.

I can NOT be in the same room as Gareth typing.

It truly is one of the most difficult things to watch. A grown man hunched over the key board with two fingers extended.  I can type almost as fast as Gareth can speak, so watching him struggling to find the letter G, is....I would rather get my head stuck in a bucket!

Gareth has the same feeling watching me do anything with a power tool!

So, we do have an old fashioned sense of Blue jobs and Pink jobs. Playing to our strengths.

As I am writing this I am reminded of the many talents of my wonderful husband. He can do almost anything he sets out to do - except type! 

I'm often left feeling like the talentless one - though not in a damaged self-esteem kind of way. More in a 'Oh, great...he can do that too' kind of way.

I know I can do stuff. I'm just better at doing it with Gareth in my corner. and I guess that's the same for him. We're better people because we're together. Tackling life, marriage, parent-hood, business,,,tequila....

Seventeen years! And I'm looking forward to the next 100!