People that have been married for a while know that marriage is NOT easy.
I’ve been married for 14 years. If I would tell you it’s been all rainbows and cupcakes I would be lying my ass off. We’ve had ups and no doubt downs but weathered the storm that capsizes most.
At least so far…
I was on my way home from work last week when I called my hubs, though I was upset I tried to control my onset of emotion. I told him my leg hurt and that I was feeling extremely drained because it seems like
E
V
E
R
Y
O
N
E
Needs something from me at this stage in life. The kids, extended family, job and husband all NEED something from me. The needs have an obvious range of importance and could be ANYTHING from a lego arm re-attachment, cleaning out a childhood closet, four emergency department nurses or being tool bitch. The point is, as temporary as this part of the journey MIGHT be, I’m exhausted.
There isn’t one place or timeframe when it’s just ME time. My days off are filled to the brim with to do’s and chores, it’s definitely NOT a sexy life.
BUT something spectacular just happened. Before I dig into that you must know the back story.
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As a kid, I would spend my days in school and I would moonlight as a garage singer with a 100 foot orange extension cord and a light bulb with an orange plastic net on it as my microphone.
I was born in a garage. Ok, fine, technically I was born in a hospital but I grew up in a garage. My dad is part of the generation that fixed EVERYTHING himself. We would spend HOURS in the garage changing alternators, pulleys, belts and the occasional motor.
Because I’ve assisted in two motor transplants 😉 I know really random car facts, such as the firing pattern on a distributor cap for Chevy small block motors. I have YET to use that information in a trivia setting but eventually it will happen. It did help my husband when he was rebuilding a motor for his car.
Between belting out oldies, I would hand my dad tools, help him problem solve and hold the flashlight in JUST the right spot. Years into my flashlight holding training, I perfected it. I could angle ANY flashlight into the tiniest crevices, where my dad would cram his man hands in to tighten itty bitty bolts all without having to look myself.
It’s really a super power, that I’m proud of.
Back to present day…
Remember in the beginning when I mentioned calling my hubs upset because everyone needs everything from me?
Well he must have forgot.
Almost immediately after our conversation I pulled in the driveway, a tiring work day behind me, him fresh on a day off and he said, “go grab the flashlight and help me with this outlet”.
My eyebrows raised so high they created un-erasable wrinkles in my forehead.
“Are you joking?”
Him, “no, I want to get this done.”
As I ran up and down our stairs trying to find the right breaker, I explained to him how I feel unheard. He didn’t get it, so I did what anyone in my position would have done… I held the flashlight right behind his big head, moving it in tandem with his leaning side to side efforts to see better. His head may have cast a large shadow on the wall but his struggles to see made my smile boundless!
It’s little revenge wins like that, that turn any down in the dumps mood to smiles and make our marriage work!
