Welcome to the Shit Show

– a Berly View

At 20 years and one day of marriage, this is the advice I have to give today.

Within marriage and family, there is going to be a series of shit shows. If you can find a way to laugh at these moments, you will hold them close to your heart as much as the more perfect moments.

Yesterday was Ben and my 20th Wedding Anniversary. Originally we planned to take a day off work, visit Dogwood Canyon during the day, and rent a lakeside AirBnB for the night. But because of a big project Ben has been working on for work, we decided to postpone that idea.

New Plan! Take the kids out to a fancy dinner!
So here we go, welcome to the shit show.

It starts with Q, the 8th grader, not fitting in any dress clothes and can not find his dress shoes. Ben was able to find a pair of pants and a shirt. The dress shoes were never found. Yes, there was yelling during this entire process.

Ten minutes before it is time to leave, we knock on Blue’s door to find that she is not getting ready but instead asleep in her bed. More yelling.

Somehow we are en route to the restaurant on schedule but all in a foul mood. I inform everyone that attitudes need to change before we hit the restaurant. I might have said, DO NOT ruin my, I mean, our anniversary.

Q let me know that he didn’t think that was going to be possible. I let him know this is a life skill he would have to master, and he would be improving his attitude. For some reason, this gave me flashbacks of potting training that kid.

All smiles while we entered the restaurant. At the table, while scooting in my chair, I proceed to land the chair’s leg on my foot. I might have broken 1 to 3 toes.

Good News, They let Blue order chicken nuggets from the kid’s menu. Bad News, Blue had her second COVID Vaccine earlier in the day and is now starting to feel ill.

Near the end of dinner, Q informs us that he is going to throw up. At first, we requested that he did not throw up the $40 steak. It became clear it was best to let him excuse himself to the bathroom. He claims he only threw up half of the $40 steak. Oh well, let’s fill him up on dessert.

The dessert was good! We will always have that.

But because Shit Shows like to pile it on, both Blue and Ben felt sick in the middle of the night. I let them both sleep in and try and feel better. Poor Q was late to school because Daddy usually does the morning routine with the kids. (I make dinner, not breakfast or lunches. )

This Shit Show, known as our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary, already makes us laugh. As we were discussing it this morning, laughingly, his statement was, “I even wore a new shirt.” My response “I even wore lipstick. AND after all of that, the only photo I have of the day is a selfie we took before going to sleep.”