riding in tandem

Remember when I said I rode a tandem bike for the first time this week? Well I wanted to write about it but Ryan beat me too and when he finished reading it to me I decided he said everything I wanted to. So here it is, a guest post from my hubby (more of his writing can be found here as well.)-enjoy

tandem

As my wife and I were sitting outside the other day sipping coffee on our friend's porch, they suddenly had this great idea..."We think you and Bekah need to do a little marriage counseling!" Obviously, I was a bit skeptical since Bekah and I have been married for over 5 years, and probably would have been offended had I not understood the randomness of these amazing people. So, Bekah and I proceeded to agree to their little "counseling session." They told us to put our shoes on and come around the back of the house. When we got there, we found a black bike with two seats, two handle bars, which included one challenge. Bekah and I accepted this challenge, their "counseling" session.

As we hopped on the bike it was clear why our friends called it marriage counseling. I was in the front, and obviously that person is in charge of steering the bike. This is a big responsibility that neither people think about before hopping on. As we came to our first corner I started to go left. However, I did not warn Bekah of this and she proceeded to jerk her handle bars back and forth making it very difficult for us to turn left. We just about crashed on the pavement, and by only God's help did we make that corner. Immediately Bekah wanted off the bike. It was scary, she had no control, and she didn't want to crash. I suggested that we work together at the next corner and assured her that it would go smoothly. Approaching the next corner I proceeded to tell Bekah what direction we were turning and verbally walked us through the process as we were doing it. It worked great, and corner after corner it became easier and easier. By the end we really enjoyed the ride and were glad we did it.

Our friends were right on it being a perfect tool for marriage counseling. 5 years ago we would have crashed. Bekah would have sat there crying as I pointed and yelled at her for not turning the same direction I did. It made me happy to see that we've come a long way over the years. We were able to communicate through the difficulties of a new challenge. She was able to trust me that things were going to go smoother as long as we communicated. Who would have thought that so much truth and encouragement could be found riding in tandem.