Conflict resolution...

So, in premarital counseling we talked a little about conflict resolution. Our mentors gave us a great outline to use in order to resolve conflicts. Really great stuff, but when you have such great communication skills as Sam and I, you typically don't need any formula for conflict resolution (said with a hint of sarcasm). Actually we scored very high on our premarital inventory when it came to communication, but when it comes to conflict even typically good communicators can struggle to express true desires and feelings.
I'm sure many of you are wondering by now what kind of fight Sam and I got into. Well, it wasn't really a huge deal, but we were trying to decide what to do with the couple of days I have off for spring break. Originally we wanted to try to go camping, but that fell through and we were struggling to come up with anything fun to do. Sam mentioned going to visit his family in southeast Texas and when we could think of nothing else we agreed on this. We agreed, so you may be asking, "where's the conflict?"
Here's the problem... we agreed, but not exactly on the same thing. His thoughts were to leave Friday and stay through Tuesday (We're off work Mon & Tues), but my thoughts were to leave after church on Sunday (I really hate to miss church) and stay through Tuesday (these were the originally planned dates for camping). This is when I realized marriage can get complicated (in case I haven't learned that already). What is the balance between putting each other before our extended families (what I wanted Sam to do for me) and giving sacrificially to make each other happy (what I wanted to do for Sam)? It is really my desire to be selfless, but I was really struggling. Finally I agreed to go on Friday, but I was not happy.
There were a lot of emotions going on inside and, although I'm good at communicating my needs, I'm not very good at communicating my emotions. It takes me a good 30 minutes alone in the room just to figure out what's really going on inside of me between all my thoughts and emotions. I realized that part of my sadness was due to the fact that originally this weekend was supposed to be centered around having fun with friends or maybe even just me and Sam and now we would be hanging out with family (nothing wrong with that), but not spending any fun, quality time together. I guess I was feeling disappointed.
Sam is a really great husband, but he isn't so comfortable with discomfort, if you know what I mean. He came into the room where I was laying on the bed silently crying. He said "what's wrong, Love?" When I looked up at him through my tearstained eyes, he's grinning from ear to ear (if I didn't know him better I would definately be offended, but his little smile just tells me he's uncomfortable with the situation). I was finally able to tell him how I felt. I was getting ready to make a compromise when my wonderful husband did something very sacrificial. He gave in... I wasn't crying to try to get my way, I promise. It just kind of happened that way... Thank you Sam for really loving me.
So now I'm pretty excited about this weekend. On Saturday we're going to go to the Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe it or Not. And then we're leaving Sunday after church to go down to visit his family. It was exactly how I wanted this weekend to be. Some time for us, getting to go to our home church, and getting to spend time with his family. I can't wait!

Hope you have an amazing weekend too! God Bless You!