The year is 2001. Ammon and I are dating, before mission. We went to Education Week with my parents. This was our first experience navigating BYU campus.
We were late for a class, looking at the map, trying to find the BENSON BLDG.
I'm pretty sure Ammon said we should go one way, and I thought we needed to go another way, there was some tension.
When Ammon announced that we had arrived, I looked at the building marker and said with exasperation and all seriousness, "Ammon, THIS is not IT! This is The EZRA Taft Benson Building, We need the Benson Building!"
I was rather unkind, making pointed accusations of ignarance, while ironically demonstrating actual ignorance in all it's beauty.
Now here is the good part. Think how you might respond in this situation, keeping in mind the growing stress level. This was Ammon's response: He looked at me and said calmly,
"I'm just gonna let you think about that for a minute."
He didn't out right laugh at me, which could have been lethal. He didn't point out my stupidity and label me with it. He gave me time to realize what I said and laugh about it.
His reaction diffused all the tension and madeway for laughter. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm still laughing.
Sometimes I wonder what Gottman would have to say about us.
1 comments:
i love this story. i hadn't thought about it for a while and it didn't mean as much to me when you told me back then. now i see what a difficult situation that could have been...oh the things i still need to learn that ammon knew years ago.
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