Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Today we're leaving for a birthday celebration for my husband.  All the kids and grandkids will be there.  I feel great joy and excitement at the prospect, but also danger at the speech disasters that may be lurking.  I want to be fully awake and careful, yet detached enough to let impulsive speech roll over me.  I'm fortunate that I have a practice that aids me.  My husband does not.  He's anxious, and would suffer either way:  devastated if nothing was done for his birthday yet dreading how he might offend or be offended.  I could tell him to lighten up, but it's not a gear he possesses.  So I have to detach from his anxiety and enjoy my family without rescuing anyone.  Quite a high wire act, but one many of us do when reunions and celebrations occur.  Nothing is simple.  Immediate feeling is intertwined with history and expectation and serendipity.  Swimming in the turbulent waters with all these feelings requires both a letting go and compassion.  We're only human after all.  I'm going to embrace our frailties and foibles and have fun.  And take pictures.