It's Sometimes Hard to See You Through the Madness

When it comes to nurturing relationships, there is arguably none more valuable than the ones you have with yourself and your partner.

In the daily fog of life, it is sometimes hard to clearly see my husband. Every morning we each do a choreographed dance: me brewing coffee, him adding the milk & sugar, forcing tiny sneakers on to small feet, making sure our kids have their uniforms, and somehow -- in between the madness -- getting ourselves ready as well. Our evenings are full of meal making, teeth brushing, and parental nagging all before we hopefully settle in to watch a little bit Netflix before passing out on the couch.

Life with kids is a hectic and unromantic emotional journey that can take a toll on even the healthiest of relationships. And even though we both enjoy our roles as parents to these four amazing kids, we often send "I miss you" texts to each other. It's funny to think that you could miss someone that sleeps next to you, dines with you, and rides shotgun in your car almost every day but when you are married with children, missing your partner is just part of the journey.

I spend a few minutes each day browsing the cheap ticket options on Spirit.com. Occasionally there will be a deal, like my NYC trip which cost me less than $100 roundtrip, for example... But, sometimes, extraordinary sales jump out at you and make it easy to drop everything and fly away without a second thought. A few weeks ago, I came across one of those deals to the city of New Orleans. I immediately sent a text telling my husband that for only $92 I had booked both of us round trip flights to the Big Easy. It would be my first trip there, but Chris has been going since his teen years; sometimes for work and sometimes to party.

It's been easy for me to romanticize New Orleans. Instagram photos of colorful homes, beautiful balconies, and delicious food has made New Orleans look like a beautiful but swampy version of Charleston. With its brick paved streets and American charm, I was sure that this little city would set a romantic backdrop for our day without kids.

Our flight to New Orleans left Fort Lauderdale at 7 am on a Tuesday. Thanks to the time difference, we would arrive in NOLA at 8 am, ready for breakfast, and with an entire day of exploring ahead of us.

One of the reasons Chris and I were looking forward to this trip was because over the last few years our money, as well as our focus, has been solely on growing Non-Prophet Brewing Co. Since the beginning of our relationship, Chris and I had always taken a decent sized vacation every year. For a week or two, we would land in a region and explore the local beer scene by hopping from one brewery or bar to the next. And while we have gone on several mini-trips over the last couple years, we have not been alone, and none of them were about being together; they were about growing the brewery.

And even though our New Orleans trip was supposed to be all about us and being in New Orleans, we could not help but scope out another kombucha brewery in the city. In fact, our first stop was at Big Easy Bucha, the first (and currently, only) facility brewing kombucha in New Orleans. Southerners are so kind and welcoming to even outsiders. The brewery hours started at 10 am, and though we tried our damnedest to get there as close to opening as possible, we arrived before opening and were welcome nonetheless.

We ended up staying to enjoy a mini tour, try some samples, invite the owners to South Florida to try our brews, and even leave with a few bottles to enjoy on the road. Our second stop, in true Chris and Stephanie fashion, brought us to another brewery. This time we were in search of beers, hopefully of the hoppy variety, and we found that at NOLA Brewing Co. We enjoyed another tour and sampled a few flagships before receiving some recommendations of where to go next.

My heart was set on exploring the French Quarter, though Chris pushed for us to head to the Garden District at least for lunch. Several people had recommended we stop by Cochon for lunch, which apparently offers both a sandwich shop and a more formal sit-down option next door. Our intentions when en route to Cochon was to keep it uncomplicated and visit the lunch counter, but, we ended up on the other side and decided to roll with it. The menu was limited (but delicious) and our waiter had as much personality as an uncooked potato.

Our day started to get foggy from here. I eventually made my way to the French Quarter, which well... I won't say that it was not beautiful at one point in time, but on this day, it was a stinking mess of vomit, horse sh*t, and armpit sweat. My friend Eric told me many times before our trip that he would call it a city of many smells - none of them good. He was right.

So, after drinking a few beers at lunch, we stopped at a liquor store in the quarter to pick up some “walking beers” while heading to Cafe Du Monde to get beignets from their takeout window. While snacking on beignets and listening to the steel drum and beatboxing going on down in the street, we sat on a bench overlooking Jackson Square and tried our hardest to ignore the smells of the city and the heat of the sun.

We had both worn jeans and sneakers, unsure of the weather and wanting to be comfortable on the plane but the heat was getting to us, and the alcohol was starting to take control, so we decided to walk Bourbon and head to a Polynesian style cocktail bar that a few people had recommended. It was a diamond in a rough, let me tell you. The cocktails were not cheap, especially compared to the pre-mixed concoctions available on Bourbon, but they were delicious, and fresh, and were precisely what I needed for my final drink in New Orleans.

The day had gotten away from us. We had landed at 8 am, and our flight was set to take off just before 8 pm. We gave ourselves a full twelve hours, to find each other, in a city that smells like sh*t, and to go home with a fresh outlook on the hectic life we currently lead. In a lot of ways it worked.

Chris and I are in our mid-thirties, and we have been together for a long time, but we have been friends for even longer. I don't know anyone as deeply as I know him. Even still, he is a mystery to me. He is a man that I am excited to wake up to every single day, even if those days are mostly routine.

So I may not have fallen in love with New Orleans as I thought, but at least I remembered why I fell in love with Chris.