Since I can remember, Nic has been asking me almost daily, “Are you having fun with me today?” It’s a constant refrain in our house. He asks me when we are truly having a whole lot of fun doing something I love, and he asks me when the circumstances are not fun at all. It is his way of checking in and of inserting humor into nasty situations. If I think back through every stressful/difficult/sad/crazy/exciting/awesome time, he has always asked me if I was having fun with him that day. It is just very Nic. And even if it’s often just sarcastic, or meant to make me smile, on a deeper level, the question forces me to be thankful for Nic’s companionship and for the good things that I do have during rough days. God has blessed us with a relatively painless and joy-filled life, so yes, I am having fun…with you…today.

We have been in the habit of spending a chunk of time discussing our days at the end of each workday. We each get however many minutes it takes to share the triumphs, frustrations, and ridiculous stories from the day. This has been a treasured buffer between work and home, an awesome way to decompress and catch each other up. We realized recently that we won’t be asking about each other’s days during this trip – we will always be spending all day together! (If I were texting, I’d be inserting about ten different types of emoji here.) So for a time, our most important question for each other will be, “Are you having fun with me today?”