Unconventional Therapy: A Haunted House

I have been told I have a bit of a temper.
Trust me, I know, and I'm working on it.
I'm not perfect.
If I smell bullshit, I typically call it out, right then and there, figure out if I'm correct, and move on.
Well, apparently that can come off as mean.
So I kind of graze over the details, even though they still bother me.
Until they boil over and something stupid sets me off.
Then all the issues of the past day/week/month spew out at once.
It's no bueno.

Mark and I have been frantically working around the house and at our jobs, constantly.
So constantly that the only time we are together is to collapse on the couch and proclaim exactly HOW tired we both are.
We don't put each other first, we just assume the other will be there.
Until we're not.
There has been a serious lack of romance and caring and overall good attitude between us.

So here we are, on our ten year anniversary of meeting, bickering.
Bickering about schedules and love, or lack thereof, of selfish ways, of general sour attitudes.

And not but a couple hours later, we are scheduled to head off to a haunted house (that we LOVE, by the way) because I purchased a Groupon and we HAD to go that night.
Side note: I had no idea the place didn't open until 7pm. On a school night. And it's an hour away.
Lesson learned.

Anyways, Halloween is my jam and although still kid-less, I like to partake in as many spooky events as possible. I was going to that damn house with or without him.

It's always weird....fighting...and then having to suck it up and be in the same room together.
When you'd rather just kind of stay at a distance and sulk.
I showered and came back and apologized. Because as much as I can blame him for our employee-ish relationship with each other, we're a team, it's not just him.
Even though sometimes I feel I can do no wrong in this relationship, that isn't reality.
The reality is you get what you put in.
And if no one is putting in anything, no one is getting any. ;)

And as far as my mama was always concerned, I was required to make my own life, without NEEDING a man.
Sure, it's nice to have them around, but it's a WANT...not a NEED.
A luxury, if you will.

But as of last night, Mark and I have been a part of each other's life for TEN. YEARS.
And that's a mighty long time to just casually have a WANT in your life, right?

But what if it's not?
You know the best way to find out if it's a need or a want?
Go to a haunted house.
And have one of the reaper guys pick the two of you to head into the tunnel last, well after the others.
And then have him tell you that you have to go separate ways.
Alone.

I panicked. Sure, I love all the effects and the actors don't really scare me, but can I really do this alone?
I gulped and looked at the pitch black tunnel I was about to head into.
I can do this, I said to myself, and started to enter.

And then stopped dead in my tracks.
I looked back at Mark and we both said we wouldn't go any further without each other.
I needed him in that moment as much as I need him in my life.
We are a team.
A team that let's the other one lead for a period of time through that spooky place, and then falls back to be dragged along as needed.
A team, that, when forced to lie down in an empty room, only to be buried alive by a psychotic amount of Playplace balls (talk about claustrophobia!) scrambles to reach for each others hands because it's getting hard to breathe and you don't know how much longer you can stay in this position.
A team that realizes you caught up to the original group, but still want to be scared, so you hold back and steal a kiss next to a bloody butcher shop.

And by the time we were out, we were dizzy, and a little disoriented, but we made it.
And were smiling from ear to ear at each other as we slurped up Frosty's and fries on the way home.

Can I take on this world without him?
Sure.
But I don't want to. I need him in my life. He makes me whole.
And I just have to remind myself more often.
It's you and me, babe.

Thanks for reading!