You know when you're engaged, you always hear those stories about petty things that married people argue about: one of them always leaves the cap off of the toothpaste, the toilet seat up, etc. People close to us in our lives asked us about how we would raise our children (we mostly agree), what religion we are (we love our church), and finances (Mike is a Financial Planner--I just need to follow his plan a little closer). Mike and I don't have those issues. We have our own special issues. Seriously--this is something that creeps into our lives every single day in some manner. I am a cleaner, organizer, get-rid-of-stuff-and-throw-it-out type person. Mike is a saver. Now when I say saver, I mean S.A.V.E.R. When we got married and were moving into our house, I found boxes of what I like to call "trash." Things like receipts from 12 years ago, keys that no longer had a lock, locks that had no combination, and other similar stuff. When I tried to throw them out, Mike could NOT take it. These things have some type of meaning to my D.H. that I still don't understand. Now, what brings me to this point is a lamp that I have been waiting to throw out for a week. It's a halogen lamp that doesn't work. I tried replacing the bulb and it DOESN"T WORK. It's been sitting by the front door for a week, anxiously waiting trash day. Tomorrow is the day. I took it out and put it with the other big trash this afternoon. I have to admit, I glanced over in the direction of the door that the halogen lamp has called home for the past week several times this afternoon and admired the nice, clean spot where the lamp clutter used to be. This caused me true happiness. This is how much I enjoy getting rid of junkie stuff. Fast forward to 10 minutes ago. I'm trying to get all my last minute scapbooking stuff together (yippee!) and Mike left to go to the gym. In the back of my mind, I noticed that the door opened and closed one extra time as he was leaving. I went downstairs to get something, and what is sitting in my house by the front door????? THE FREAKING HALOGEN LAMP. He brought it BACK in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am experiencing extreme discomfort because I know we are in for the discussion.
Me: Mike, honey, the lamp does not work.
Mike: Are you sure? It's a good lamp.
Me: Yes, I'm sure.
Mike: Did you try replacing the bulb?
Me: Yes, it doesn't work.
Mike: Did you try another electrical socket. Maybe the socket is bad.
Me: The lamp doesn't work. Take it back out.
Mike: Maybe we could fix it.
Me: Take it out. It cost $20 when I was in college. We don't need it take it out.
Mike: Let me just see if I can fix it.
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH! Please just take it out.
Mike: Fine.
Me: Thank you.
The Terry Wright School of Parenting.
6 years ago
4 people had nice things to say:
SHUT UP! This is classic! So something that would happen at my house! Glad he finally realized THAT THE LAMP WAS BROKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No offense, Mike!
I will share a formula that I spent $10,000 learning -
"Acknowledge, approve and give him a job!"
"Mike, I know that lamp has been faithful to you for a long time and you love the lamp. Darling, please replace it with one of your choice so you can have a working lamp."
Don't mention getting rid of the lamp, just let it fade away and look for the new lamp!
Try this formula on many issues and watch Mike serve you. That is his job - to serve you. So, you make a decision right now to stop serving him. Both of you will love the change!
xo
am
Totally hysterical. It's this kind of thing that applies when people say "nothing can prepare you for marriage!!".
I hate saving stuff!! LOL!
Hi, please blog. I keep checking on you and no blog'o!
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