and the winner is...

Today was a great day. C3 had a record setting attendance day and it was our first church picnic. We had some great food, some karaoke (yes we had karaoke at a church picnic...) and of course we can't rule out the ol' cornhole tournament. What would a church picnic be without some good old fashioned competition.

When it came time to sign up for the tourney, my wife told me to find a different partner because she didn't want to be the reason I didn't win. I thought that was very noble but I wanted her to be my partner. She can be my life partner but not my cornhole partner...hmmm what is wrong with that picture?

I am very competitive. I have always played to win. When others say "I just play to have fun" I respond with "winning IS fun". I felt really bad because I was keeping my wife from having fun because she thought winning was more important to me than just having fun with her. I convinced her to be my partner anyway and assured her that I really was only going to play to "have fun". I promised I would not put any pressure on her or be upset if we didn't win the whole thing.

Guess what [long dramatic pause] WE WON!!! Guess what else... IT WAS FUN!!!! Out of 22 teams we marched through and won the whole bloomin' thing. She kept us in it more than once. She was amazing. I didn't put any pressure on her and she came up gold.

My point: as fun as winning is, relationships are more important. My relationship with my wife got even stronger today because we believed in each other. She had to trust me to hold up my end of the bargain (not to pressure or be mad if we lost) and I had to trust her to play the best she could.

I am so proud of her. I guess the "win" is if you play your best. If you are gonna play, play your best, otherwise shut up and sit down.

I think it is ironic that when my focus went from winning to fun, I did both... man that feels good to share with the one you love.