Maybe we will become the Untied States, a common typo come to life, where all the states kinda just exist on their own, more similar in structure to the EU. Coming from one of the giver states with great education and social services, and even public transit, if the flyovers want to be shitty and sell me their crops and whatever, that's fine.
When kids start to communicate, it gets so much better. Mine are 7 and 4 now and so we are over that hump (and only have three bedrooms and) permanently, but babies are frustrating AF, and that frustration rubs off on everything. My daughter, I can sit and really talk with her and find out about her day and her needs and her desires. My son is still a buffoon but I get glimpses of an actual person in there, and I love it.
Things are definitely harder when your kids are younger. They don't communicate, you get frustrated, your partner is obviously frustrated as well, and it unfortunately carries into your relationship. My wife and I write letters to each other as the year goes along and plop them in a box. I do my best to not make it this rosy depiction of a wonderful life. I unload how some times can be difficult. It helps me remember that shit ain't always perfect, and that's that. It helps me let go of some negative feelings, and remember that some issues are acute for any number of reasons.
I always joke with people that I didn't form this immediate bond with my children. I'm not sure it's even a joke, but I make it a joke now, because my bond with them is immense now. The joke now is that I love them both so much more than their mom, and my wife understands it completely. And it's not because of some love lost over the last 11+ years I've been with my wife, but that this relationship with my kids has just grown to a level I didn't quite understand before.
So I dunno, I try to compartmentalize some of the bad times. They sure have existed. I try to remember that there's always some rationale for intolerable behavior, and that sometimes you can't just wish that trigger away, and that we need to just eat shit for a bit. And so that letter to my wife frequently helped me communicate about those times I was a less than ideal partner, as well as the times she was. And surely it was a vent for the times our kids could be little monsters.
I was just watching Pee-Wee's big adventure with my kids (mainly my daughter, son is 4 and a buffoon) and was thinking shit, I need to show her that twilight zone movie, with John Lithgow on the plane, the old man kicking the can, and then the kid holding his family hostage.
Yeah, say literally anything nice about me and it makes my day better. And I'm just a regular dude, I've got a pretty good life, but compliments are awesome. A compliment complements a nice day really well, and can help to turn a bad day around.
Oddly enough, I also like giving them. It's all good.
I'm from Jersey (New). I go down the shore, and while down the shore I go to the beach. This is how it's always been and always will be (until the shore comes up to me because we've destroyed the environment)!
Agreed from New Jersey. I was fortunate enough to go with a friend whose family is all from Portugal, in Furadurao or however it's spelled, I dunno. But did Lisboa, Porto, stopped at the home of the oldest brothers in Portugal (at the time). Was fed much portwine at every home we stopped at, and ate bread with melted cheese in it that I've been chasing for the last 15 years since we were there.
I'm fortunate to be from Jersey for many reasons, but one of them is the huge Portuguese population we have and the cooking they brought with them.
I'm from the US and the only wine from the US I'd buy is from Cali. There are wineries all over, butost of the US really doesn't have a great climate for wining. Cali has some solid wines though.
But someone will tell me that Us v. Rich people isn't the only battle that matters. Literally everything gets easier to face if we just eliminate the battle we have with rich people.
I've told my wife that I'm going to strip clubs, because it's one of those bachelor party things that happen (been a while fortunately), and she doesn't bat an eye. I can go to a rave, I can go out to a bar, I can hang out with a group of guys and girls late, and nothing, because she knows I'm coming home. I'd be a little concerned my activities were (or had been, I'm getting oooold) gauged by "cheating opportunities." My wife trusts me implicitly, and it's because I communicate with her.
Maybe we will become the Untied States, a common typo come to life, where all the states kinda just exist on their own, more similar in structure to the EU. Coming from one of the giver states with great education and social services, and even public transit, if the flyovers want to be shitty and sell me their crops and whatever, that's fine.