I’ve been married for 17 years.
I’ve been with this man for the past 24 years and have known him for
over 26 years. After more than a quarter
of a century, after more than half of my life, it is with great pleasure that I
can say that I still love him. He is my
best friend. He is the wonderful father
of our children. I mean who knew that
when we met as teenagers, some day my kids and his kids would be siblings? Who knew?
He is by far the easiest person I have had the pleasure to live
with. He is the most laid back person I
have ever encountered. So again I will
reiterate, I love this man.
But damn, he has this annoying habit that drives me crazy!!!!!
It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him something, it doesn’t
matter how many times I mention a name, it doesn’t matter how many times I write
the schedule on the bulletin board, without fail he WILL ask me the same questions repeatedly.
Case in point: Our oldest child
goes to Math Lab every day except Fridays.
One Friday afternoon, my husband was in the vicinity of the school at about
3:00. I thought to myself, “I know this
guy is going to call and ask if he should wait and pick up that boy.” I kid you not, about three seconds later the
phone rings. Dude is on the other line
asking me if he should pick up our son.
Every single time he goes to the grocery store, I wait for the
call because I know it is coming. “Which
one do you want?” How about the one that we usually buy? You know, the one that looks like the one we
just used. But I have to be careful
because once or twice when I got too cocky, I heard on the other end, “Okay
then, get it your damn self.” So now I
check myself before I wreck myself.
Because the children are no longer in daycare, no one has the same
schedule anymore; so life has become a little bit more complicated. Hence, I developed a system. I have a word document where I enter each
child’s activities on a biweekly basis.
Yes it’s color coded! I pin it on
the bulletin board. Then so as not to
get confused – because believe it or not I have looked at the wrong date for
the wrong child and arrived at the wrong time – I write the day’s schedule on
the white board. Color coded, of course,
including travelling time too. I know,
it is not brain surgery, but when you have taken your child to the wrong
baseball field and you have no idea what the coach’s number is and you are both
in a panic, it’s no picnic. And how much
gas and time have I wasted driving a kid to basketball practice when I realize
I’m at the stop light, and I’m not sure if I should go straight for the
elementary or intermediate school or left for the middle or high school? I can pull over and call home, but what if I
left in a hurry and don’t have my cell phone or all three kids are with me?
So the biweekly schedule is there; and the daily schedule is there. Would you believe on the weekends when the
love of my life is available, that instead of glancing on the board he ALWAYS,
without fail, asks, “Does anybody have anything today? When?
Where?”
If I’m in a shitty mood, I ignore him. I just can’t.
And since it’s about the kids, he will usually take them if I’m busy. But the times that I’m vying for Wife of the Year, I simply tell him
because once I’ve written it down I will remember. Plus it is less stress to just answer. I mean who wants a silly fight over the
weekend? Weekends are only long when one
is having fun. Try getting mad with
someone you live with on a Friday night and see how long it takes for Sunday to
arrive!
And don’t get me started with mentioning a well used name in a
conversation with him. “Who is
that?” Seriously! I have mentioned that
name like 50 times before. Doesn’t he
listen? And of course God forbid I say that. I know I’m going to hear. “Do you expect me to remember all those
people?” And if I continue, I know he
will let me know in no uncertain terms, that he really doesn’t care to
hear. And the thing is, he really
doesn’t. Me on the other hand, it would
bug me if I didn’t get to hear the rest of the story. But him, never. Do I have to add how irritating that is too……that
level of self-control?
Then there is planning trips with him. If he asks for confirmation one more time if
I’m still going somewhere when I have confirmed four times previously, I’m just
going to kill somebody. Seriously,
unless I’m a bona fide crazy person, there is no way that I’m going to sit down
and plan to go somewhere and do something and then when the day comes change my
mind.
I can just hear some people saying, “Really! Is that what she’s
complaining about? That is her worse?” But perspectively speaking, my husband is the
one who is married to an extremely hot tempered, anal, chatty and wacky individual. And if he has managed to stay calm amidst my
storm, then I vow to accept his flaw for better or for worse.
