I have learned that when traveling with my husband, the stresses of a new environment and taking care of details might erupt into needless fights. So I've been more aware lately of potentially frustrating situations.

The other night, we were in New Jersey, on our way to a hotel from a friend's wedding. Paul was driving us, and even though he's a GREAT driver who has a way better sense of direction than me and Danny put together, the Fort Lee area in NJ was new for him. In addition, Danny had half-baked directions to get to the hotel.

Let me first say before I go on that my husband is an EXCELLENT finder of deals when it comes to things like making travel arrangements. We got a Hilton hotel room for $60 that night, when the regular price is something like $350. Wow!!! Go Danny!

Anyways, we were driving around and kind of lost. So even if we had this sweet deal, it won't mean anything if we can't get to the place, right? I felt a little dose of impatience coming on, and frustration towards Danny for not getting the directions right. But it's like, who am I?? Do I even know what north and south are? How many times have I gotten lost? How many times have I inconvenienced other people on account of my lack of knowing directions? I guess it's just that I have high expectations for my husband. Since I can't do it, I expect him to know how to do it well.

As I was struggling inside with my conflicting emotions, Danny sunk into his seat next to me, obviously feeling bad for Paul, and for the other passengers in the car. In a quiet voice, which was barely audible to the other people in the car because he was also slightly mumbling, he said, "Sorry, Paul. It was poor planning on my fart."

Now, at this point, I was the only one in the car that heard the last word. I turned around and saw my poor husband feeling really bad for his bad directions, and right then and there, all of my mixed emotions became crystal clear. My heart swelled with love for my dear. He has his strengths and weaknesses, and I embrace them all. I mean, how could I get mad at someone who had poor planning on his fart? How could I get frustrated at someone who does everything in his power to take care of me, even if he sometimes has poor planning on his fart?

So instead of getting frustrated or mad or snippy for "poor planning on his fart", I just started laughing hysterically. I mean side-hurtin', verge-of-delirium, can't-breathe-but-totally-worth-it kinds of laughs. I can only remember two other times that I've laughed like this in the past five years. One was when we celebrated Adrian's birthday with a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" during smallgroup, and then promptly found out by his utterly confused look that his birthday wasn't until another month. The second time was when I sent out a repeat email thanking people for coming to my birthday party. The first email was sent out two weeks after the event, and started out with something like "Hi everyone, it's been 2 weeks since my birthday, and I wanted to thank you for coming..." Then two weeks later, I sent out another thank you email saying, "Hi everyone, it's been a month since my birthday, and I wanted to thank you for coming..." Danny asked me why I sent out another thank you, and that's when I realized that I sent out a repeat email, and burst out laughing, wondering if people thought I was some kind of pathetic loser who has no friends and no life, so I spend time on a biweekly basis sending out thank you emails for attending my birthday party.

Back to the latest incident. Ah... "poor planning on my fart." Those five little words saved us from having a fight. God works in weird ways. To this day, I'm still laughing about it. It's good for the soul. What's the lesson to be learned? If you think Jieun is about to get mad, appease her with some bathroom humor. And all will be well.