Three-legged Race

In the event of sharing umbrellas recently (because of the heavy rains), I noted the importance of having the right momentum and rhythm when squeezing underneath a relatively small umbrella with someone else who does not walk the same way as you do.

We bumped hips
Out from under the umbrella
We jolted momentum
And slowed us down
We hurt our hips
Knocked each other hard

All the while not changing our gait and continually bumping into each other till we got into the shade.

It was laughable,
I shared umbrellas with Hui Yii (everything's laughable with her, even walking up the stairs),
but my hips hurt after.

It made me think of relationship and coordinating the way you walk with the other. It's a lot different from walking with your family who watched you grow up or grew up with you, know your gait, your momentum, your likes, your dislikes and will walk with you no matter how slow or how fast you go.

Rather than walking left right left right together, relationship feels a lot more like a three-legged race.

You count "one two one two",
you can't go too fast,
you can't go too slow,
you can't drag the other along,
neither can you hold the other back -
whatever it is that breaks the coordination, both will hurt their ankles (and hearts) and might fall.

Of course, you wait,
of course, you speed up -

You balance yourself,
you hold each other by the hand/shoulder,
you encourage, you spur,
you motivate, you are patient,
you have a goal, a finish line.

Wanting to do this together helps a lot more than having someone tell you that you need to do this together.

I am blessed
to have someone who has been patient with me while coordinating our footsteps
especially when my foot keeps stepping on his.

My analogy is probably not the best,
but to me, it does feel a little like a three-legged race.
It's not the easiest walk/stride/half-run I've taken,
and it's not necessarily a race (who am I competing with, right?),
but it definitely helps that we are both walking together, fall into each other's pace, and having the finish line to look forward to together ("we can do this!").