The lessons in the Bison meatballs

After an amazing day driving the Going to the Sun Road at Glacier National Park and seeing incredible views we checked into a modest, ancient cabin.

It leaned to the left yet we managed to not roll out of bed. We were hungry and found a Native American run ‘casino’ that had a restaurant.

The food, although did not match the menu discriprion, was amazingly tasty. Bill had a large bowl of pasta with four amazing bison meantballs. He left one and a half meatballs and enough pasta for a delightful reminder and salivated the chance to dig in the next day. He set the leftovers in the back seat of the basic Toyota Corolla hybrid rental car. Here is where the lesson comes in.

My mothering tendencies to take care of others, whether they want my attentiveness or not, kicked in. We had agreed to leave the cooler in the car because the itsy bitsy refrigerator in the cabin wasn’t capable of holding much. However those bison meatballs would fit if I rearranged the shelving.

First faux pas was me thinking I knew better than Bill and decided the meatballs needed to be refrigerated overnight. Second faux pas was not clearly communicating (or even mentioning) to him what my thoughts were on the subject.

Mid day after exploring the mountain goat salt lick

we stopped off at the Kehoe Agate Shop near Big Fork MT. and found some treasures. This was inlaid in the entryway. They‘ve been in business (same family) since 1932.

Bill would have stayed for hours but his dreams of enjoying those leftover bison meatballs made him quickly exit. Imagine his dismay when he was perplexed at not finding them in the back seat where he had left them.

“Oh,” I said, “I’m afraid we left them back at the cabin in the refrigerator,” 🤔😲☹️

We’ve been practicing Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication, so he simply explained to me how much he was looking forward to non-chilled leftovers. No blame, no criticism, no complaint. I’ve been also practicing self-compassion so instead of jumping to shame and self-ridicule I simply looked within for what there was for me to learn.

When I was hiking in Norway 3 years ago the Norwegians taught me to ask for what I need and to allow others to ask for what they need. Those dang elastic habits pulled me back to wanting to be helpful. This time it backfired on me and I could clearly see that my intervention was unwelcome.

• I took accountability for stepping over the line and reiterated an earlier agreement that if we want help from the other we will ask.

An immediately beautiful result of my lesson is that we found a delightful meal at the Tamerack brewery in Lakeside, Montana. If you’re ever near there, we highly recommend it. (Get the salmon! )