Miserable events, fond memories

Among outdoor adventurers, there's a framework called The Fun Scale.

• Type 1 fun: Enjoyable while it's happening.
• Type 2 fun: Miserable while it's happening, but fun in retrospect.
• Type 3 fun: Miserable while it's happening and in retrospect.

Eating ice cream is Type 1 fun, running a marathon is Type 2, being stuck in a traffic jam is Type 3.

Many parents complain that parenting is miserable, when what they are describing is Type 2 fun.

When we went to Perth with our 18-month-old son, my wife and I were so exhausted after just five days that we called the airline to bring our flight forward. We couldn't wait to go home.

But we look back at the trip fondly. I remember waking up with my son and watching the kangaroos outside our cottage. I remember enjoying a nice cup of coffee at a cafe while my son drank babyccino for the first time. I remember him wanting to sit on the tractor train again and again and again—even now, more than a year later. "Australia is my favorite place, you know," he tells us every few days.

Even as I flip through my journal entries from the trip now, I can't remember why we felt so drained and miserable then. Sure, he screamed and puked whenever we put him in the car seat. We had a four-hour delay for the five-hour outbound flight. But we look like we were having so much fun in every photo and video. I can't help but grin whenever I look through them. Maybe that's just how my brain chooses to remember it.

Just like with triathlons, I just keep coming back for Type 2 fun.