We've only just begun.........

I'm just back from a weekend away with my husband. Lovely you may say, no kids, chance to actually talk to each other without having to stop mid sentence to referee an altercation or find something that another person has mislaid.

Not a bit of it.

This weekend was packed from breakfast to after dinner speaker with information and discussion.

Well, it sounds like a conference, you chose to go didn't you? Yes and no! It was a conference of sorts and the choice I made which led me to going happened 18 years ago when I said "I do".

My husband/partner/spouse is to be a Rotary district governor in the year 2011 - 2012. A role he is looking forward to immensely and I'm proud he has been asked to take up this office. However little did I know that the job is a two hander - and I'd need training to do it! Good grief I've been training my OH for the past 20 years and I'm happy (mostly) with the way we work our lives. I really didn't want someone else telling me what to do and how to do it!

At first I bridled at the thought of being told I had to do anything - if you know me at all you will realise I like to be asked first and then I still prefer to do things on my own terms. Then I had a real fear that I'd be just too forthright for my own good and I'd make a rod for my own and my partner's back by rocking the boat too much.

I needn't have worried, the horror stories of crocheting antimacassars and ironing shirts were just that - horror stories.Partners of Rotarians come in all shapes, sizes, genders and orientations so it is obvious that the support we are given to aid our "spouses" must be tailored to fit too. Once the word training was swapped for support and I realised that the vast majority of the partners in the room were as fiesty as me if not more so, the prospects looked up.

The weekend went by in a flash. I learnt a great deal about how Rotary works and as a non Rotarian it was both fascinating and humbling to see how much can be changed in the world by the simple caring actions of others. I met those who will coming on this DG's partner adventure with me and a nicer bunch of people would be hard to find.

Did I learn how to be a better "Rotary wife"? No, but then I'm now sure that wasn't the intention of the weekend. I got support and I had my eyes opened to just how much juggling of balls my OH will be doing in the coming two years.

To see if we manage it keep popping back and I'll update you on our success so far.