2026: A new beginning

I love traveling… Understatement of the year even though we’re only five days in. For Christmas, my wife got me a weekend getaway to Eureka Springs—one of our top 3 destinations for weekend getaways. We ended up taking that trip on the first weekend of the year after the go-go-go of our December season. This season is always busy for us with birthdays, parties, birthday parties, volunteering events, family gatherings, end of year kid events, and general holiday activities.

I had been seeing a trend on socials about couples doing an intentional annual planning meeting. When my sister mentioned that her and her partner were having one in a conference room, I asked my wife if we could do ours during our getaway weekend. Off-season Eureka Springs hits different. We were definitely going there for the inspiration and magic even if we stayed in our AirBnB the entire time (we didn’t). We ended up checking out Grotto, one of our favorite steak houses of all time. Amigos, our favorite Mexican food spot outside of home (we’re spoiled in OKC) with the likes of Tacos Sanchez.

Our planning session was fantastic. We ended up loosely following some influencer couple’s guide and got through most of the “agenda” they had set out. I would highly recommend this in whatever form fits your relationship. A deep check-in always brings you closer together. After this adventure, our goals and priorities are aligned, we know what we want to do this year, we know where to put our money, and most importantly—we planned how to support each one of the members of our family in the most meaningful ways.

I got a fun hat. It’s a couple of ghosts (my wife and kids call me Boo)… one that is causing shenanigans and one that is not. I guess that describes my wife and I perfectly—I’m the one with the shenanigans and my wife is just wonderful.

To a year of love. Cheers.