See how she reacts when you tell her that you'll be spending 72 hours with your brother and will take out 3 hours for her family reunion.
Hello friend,
you is wife she is husband
good luck bro.
You actually asked her if you could, I kinda feel sorry for you.
There is no request.
It's "I'm going to see my brother on his birthday for 3 hours on xxx but I'll be back"
There is no trickery involved, persuasion, or overanalysis necessary.
Thankfully playing from a position of strength is a simple endeavor.
GLB
You're approaching this all wrong. She's not a guy. Women don't respond to rational arguments in emotional situations.
I have a wife who is possible the most rational person you could meet at work, but when shit like this crops up, she's a fucking fruitloop.
Luckily, this fact makes them remarkably easy to outmaneuvre, if you just think a few steps ahead. Here's how I'd run it:
Call up her Grandparents, tell 'em how much you are looking forward to the reunion, and then explain the brother situation. Ask if it's OK, because you didn't want to offend them, but it would mean a lot to him.
They will (ofc) say yes. You can tell your wife then that you didn't want to upset her GPs, so you called them to check, and they insisted that see your brother.
Having done that, you've now placed your wife in an impossible situation.
She can either let you go see your brother.
Or she can carry on insisting, and have to explain to GPs why she wouldn't let you see your brother, and look like a shrew at the reunion.
Now, the important thing here is how you break this to your wife.
DO NOT FRAME IT IN AS I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE WRONG.
The key with women is to let them feel that they're right, whilst doing whatever the fuck you want with your life.
So you say "You know, you were right honey, I was being thoughtless about this."
(pause).
"So I called up you GPs to check that it was ok, because I really wouldn't want to upset them or your family. And they insisted that I go."
Try not to smirk when you do this as it will ruin the whole effort.
That's why I can't believe she's saying no. Because I don't go out with friends (heck I really don't even have any other than a couple neighbors!, working from home I don't meet many people). I don't go out drinking, etc... She knows that really the only entertainment/fun things I like to do involve going to see my brother and/or watching a good boxing match. And the frequency is only 3-5 times per year, that's it.
My wife's family has a reunion/anniversary celebration coming up for her Grandparents.
Of all the weekends they could have selected for this, it also happens to be the weekend that I was expecting to spend with my brother for his birthday, and watching a boxing match together.
The reunion with my wife's family is, I believe Friday-Sunday, so basically 72hrs. I'm asking her for a 3hr window to drive back and watch the fight with my brother, and then drive back to her family event.
So far she is completely denying my request, and thinks I'm being unreasonable. She says there's no way I'm going to leave for 3 hours.
I say she is being unreasonable. 3 hours out of 72 to spend time with my brother on his birthday is not an unreasonable request. So what say you?
(And no, I'm not posting pics of my wife's boobies, let's get that out of the way).