One of our favorite hobbies is to get out into nature and to go on a hike. If we could, we would probably go hiking every weekend, but unfortunately life doesn’t always cooperate. Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is all about Walking, Indoors and Outdoors, so we thought we’d take everyone on a hike with us. We’ve put together a series of photos from a recent hike that shows the various transitions of the trail as it wound its way into the mountains. If you use your imagination, you can feel the mountain breeze, hear the chirping of the birds, and smell the trees and wildflowers. So, come along with us as we walk along a single trail in the Colorado Rockies.
Start of the TrailIt Started Out Wide and OpenNature is Beautiful in its SimplicityThen We Go Deeper into the WoodsWe Start Working Our Way Back DownPine Trees and Blue SkiesWe’re Almost at the End
There is more to a great partnership than just getting along. After over twenty-five years of marriage we think that we have a pretty good idea of what makes a successful partnership. Obviously for a marriage to work, you need to love one another, but there is a lot more to it than just loving each other. For any type of partnership to work, you need to have compassion and empathy for your partner. You have to care about their feelings and opinions and do your best to understand how they feel. A successful partnership also means challenging one another, which can cause tension at times, but allows growth in the relationship. We’re not going to tell anyone else how their marriage or partnership has to work, but we can share what has worked for us. First and foremost, we are best friends who truly enjoy each other’s company and share common interests. Those common interests weren’t necessarily there when we first met, but because we wanted to understand what each other liked, we learned to care about the same things that we wanted to spend our time doing. Also, we very much have an “us against the world” mentality. It isn’t that we’re literally combative towards other people, it is just that we have to solve whatever problems we face, and there will be problems, as a couple. Nobody else can fix it for us. We decided to share this photo of us from the time that we were in Spain for this week’s challenge on partners. However, we also wanted to share the picture of the two lion cubs working together to get a fresh drink of water, what teamwork.
When we were in Chennai, India, several years ago, we had come across a store that sold interesting antiques. One of the most unusual items that we came across were tables that had been made out of antique doors. We came extremely close to purchasing this particular table and, in hind sight, regret not making the purchase. The thought of having to pay for shipping ended up discouraging us from making this unique piece of furniture part of our home decor. Lesson learned, in the future we’re not going to let the logistics and costs of shipping keep us from purchasing something that we truly wanted to purchase. Obviously that wouldn’t happen too often, but there are just times when you find something so special that you just need to bite the bullet and make the decision to get it. Since we didn’t buy, we’ll just have to go back to Chennai someday and see if we can find it again.
