One of the nice things about marriage -- besides long car trips spent listening to Don't Know Much About...Anything -- is that when one of you is not having such a good day, the other most likely is and can help the first one get over whatever is wrong. The trick is to not be weak in the same area at the same time.
I've written before about how I tend to get a little out of sorts at times (Joe would probably say more than "at times"), which sometimes prompts him to go to God about it and pray that He would "help those who are grumpy to improve their attitude."
Well. It is hard to stay grumpy when your spouse specifically prays for you not to. It is also difficult not to giggle when this happens. I did try to contain myself though when this happened recently.
After he was through praying, he said accusingly, "I heard you laughing."
Like the biblical Sarah, I denied it. "I did not laugh," I said firmly. "I thought about laughing, but I did not laugh."
Another night, at dinner, he prayed again for the Lord to "help us improve our bad attitudes." After we finished praying, I looked at him quizzically. I didn't remember acting grumpy that day. Usually I have some knowledge of these things.
"Did I have a bad attitude today?" I asked.
"No," he said, "I was talking about me."
"Whew," I said. "I'm glad it's your turn this time."
I guess he figured it had worked when he prayed for me, so it should work for him.
When we were moving into our house, it was a rather stressful time. I had had several days in a row in which I was out of sorts. Finally Joe let me know that it was not exactly easy on him either, and we agreed it was only fair if he got a day in which to be the grumpy one. That day I really tried to live up to the agreement by being as pleasant as I could, but late in the day I blew it by crying and burying my face in the sofa, which was not easy because it was almost completely covered by boxes.
Joe stroked my back for a few minutes, then said sadly, "I thought today was my day to have a breakdown."
I sniffed. "I know, I'm sorry," I said. I handed him a pillow. "Here, do you want to bury your face in this?"
But neither of us could be grumpy and laugh at the same time.
2 comments:
If only, when you moved into your house, you had known that adventures with runaway ferrets and nosy neighbors were about to unfold, you would not have had to become out of sorts...Ok, maybe it is for the best that you had no inkling that Nosy Neighbor awaited! But FERRET adventures would never have been found anywhere else!!!
This is a one-of-a-kind place, that's for sure. But just think how grumpy I WOULD have been living somewhere else without all these delightful adventures (and no view of everyone's comings and goings!).
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