wedding road trip

Oxymoron: Pacific Northwest + Sun

The Pacific Northwest is playing an evil trick on us. By delivering sunshine, blue skies, and gorgeous views for the first two days of our trip, Chris and I have both been left wondering why we’ve never make a permanent pilgrimage up North. Granted, I lived in Vancouver, BC for about four months of my life, but those months don’t count because there were approximately two days of sunshine during that entire time.

I can still remember one particular stretch of days quite vividly. We were about to rain ourselves into day thirteen when suddenly, off in the distance, I saw something that I only vaguely remembered from my youth… a fiery ball of yellow and orange known as THE SUN. People on the streets literally stopped moving to stare up at its brilliance. I felt like I was in a weird M. Night Shyamalan movie (all of which, by the way, have basically sucked since Unbreakable. I mean seriously- the one with the whole trees-are-killing-people-because-they’re angry at humanity- are you kidding me?).

Day 2 brought us to Portland, the home of Bill and Charlotte, Chris’s aunt and uncle. Over an outdoor lunch in weather that only could be considered sweltering, Bill and Char shared with us the secret of their marriage. Now, I should charge you for this valuable information, but since I like you sooooo much, I’ll give it to you for free. The secret to their successful marriage is… (drum roll please)

COMMUNICATION

Yep, good old fashioned communication. While this might seem obvious at first, turns out it’s a pretty big challenge for most married couples. Here’s just one question recently submitted on Answerbag.com:

My husband and I can not communicate with each other, every time i say something we start arguing and then he gets mad and starts yelling and screaming at me. Is this a marriage that will survive?

And from JustAnswer.com:

What do you do when your husband can’t communicate or express his fellings to you?  (Yes, that says “fellings.”)

And from JaimeCase.com:

What do you do when your husband-to-be communicates so much that you actually have to tell him to stop emoting so much?

Both Chris and I agreed that of anything, communication is definitely not our problem, but we’d love to bottle a little of Bill and Char’s adventurous matrimonial spirit.  We were inspired by the trips they’ve recently taken and all the fun journeys they have lined up for the future. Plus, they have the sweetest house that I may just have to come back and visit so I can steal some decorating ideas.

Here’s a picture of all of us down by the water in Portland. I wanted to push Chris in, but lucky for him, I restrained myself.

Tags: communication and marriage, day two portland oregon, portland road trip