Rallying the troops - I mean the estrogen

I share this at the risk of my genuinly good intentions being second and third guessed for the remainder of my marriage, but find it to be such an incredible piece of wisdom that I feel a duty to go public. In fact, I've already begun to think about what terms I might demand when I field the request to include this entry and it's follow ups as an addition to, and cause for the re-release of the Carnegie classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

It's a method by which I've been succesful in getting the girls in my house excited and rallying behind the same random priorities I may have at any given time, and it's grossly exceeded my expectations in two BIG ways this year.

My first success with this little gem of influence happened earlier this year when I started to get a little carried away with cycling - mostly mountain. Annie knows by now - tomorrow marks nine years since we got hitched, that I manage to find some new hobby every couple of years. This year it happened to be riding the bikes, in part due to some good friends up here in Suncrest that kind of gave me the bug, and also because it's provided a happy medium of fun to taper the effort I need (still) to get back into pretty good shape. Cycling can get to be expensive if you start taking it somewhat serious.

Here's the dilema - the time and money I wanted to put into this newfound hobby created a pretty selfish and onesided commitment in the context of the marriage. How could I get Annie's buy in?

Case study #2 - season opener for the Utes, and the overall kickoff to the collegiate and upcoming NFL football season. Dilema - This one also involves the daughters - how do I get them and their mom to buy in to my excitement for the fantastic weekends between now and February? Not just put up with it, but actually buy into the program and like it?

Here's the first hint: