A Day Trip... on Her Terms

I went with my wife to Asheville, North Carolina, today to have a day-trip filled with wonderful things that she loves. First and foremost, my wife loves yoga. She seems to love yoga so much that I would rate it fairly highly on her interests that I do some yoga with her sometimes. That I do. On the one hand, if it's easy yoga, I sometimes do it either for her or because it really does seem to put me back together. On the other hand, if it's hard yoga, I sometimes do it because it will usually entertain her that I find it so freaking hard. One thing that I know she's wanted me to do for some time is to actually take a real yoga class with her. That I did today, driving two hours each way out of our way, with my mom even (my wife's very favorite yoga buddy and very favorite gang-up-on-me buddy), to be able to do it at her very favorite yoga place in the whole world, Asheville Yoga Center.

The class was good, actually, although I'm not sure how romantic the experience was since it was a form of yoga that is deeply personal and meditative, so we both "kind of" forgot that the other was in the room for most of the class. She seemed very, very excited about me going with her on the way in, though, and even more very, very excited about me having done it with her on the way out, so I suspect it was more romantic than I'm giving it credit. Not even mentioning how much better my hips felt after the class, I'm very glad I went and did it with her today, even with all the driving.

Another thing my wife loves is Asheville. I know she's been wanting for me to go with her on a day trip there for over a year, but traveling is not usually one of my favorite things to do. I haven't gone yet (usually, I belly up in another awesome way: watching the kids so that she can go and study yoga there). Today was my first trip there, and I'm sure she had a blast showing me around to all of her favorite places: a fancy-pants grocery store (Greenlife Grocery), a restaurant all about chocolates (The French Broad Chocolate Lounge), a quick little tour around some of town, and her favorite yoga place ever (see above). Before I go on... a restaurant all about chocolate? Seriously? Oh God yes. We learned something there today: I have a capacity to eat chocolate that trumps both of the women (combined) hands-down. Ha! Actually... I'm seriously a big-time foodie, so I strongly suspect the food-related places were as much for my entertainment as their enjoyment. Then again, my wife is even now still talking about the strawberry-balsamic and double-mint truffles (which blew her mind.. she could distinctly taste both ingredients in both truffles) that she had. I was deeply impressed with my Earl Gray truffle and the little bucket of chocolate that they almost dared me to eat. That place is a good place. All people should go there once or twice in their lives. If you get coffee, they even bring it to you in your own personal little coffee press. I mean, wow. That's the kind of idea I would steal (I mean emulate in homage) if I ever opened my own coffee place.

Guys (and girls!), here's what I think: it's a good idea to support your others in whatever they like to do. Sometimes, that means going out of your way to do it with them. It definitely always means standing behind them, though, and not in their way.