I like this thread. I was trying to figure out how I could participate in it, being all old and married...and I realized, sometimes we have to “sell” ourselves to our spouses. On good days in a marriage, husbands and wives can sit down and tell you everything the other person brings to the relationship. Bad days are iffy, and if there’s been a major ordeal, both parties may be wondering why the heck they’re even with each other.
So now I’m looking at the last three years of my marriage (the first 9 don’t count, we were both selfish and screwed up), what exactly I think I’m offering my husband day in and day out-
•I’m quick to forgive, and slow to anger. I can’t promise I won’t get annoyed, and possibly misconstrue a situation, but I’m rarely ever truly angry.
•I learn. Like, on purpose, go and find new information about a subject type learning. This results in improvement of skills- I won’t lie and say I’m a good cook, but I’m better than I was and more so all the time. It’s about more than cooking, of course; I know many of my weaknesses and I listen to constructive criticism, and- when I’m not feeling stubborn- I actively try to improve.
•I tell the worst jokes. I sneak them in where they don’t belong and that is seriously the only reason they’re funny...and I will make my husband laugh when laughing is the furthest thing from his mind.
•I don’t nag. I hate seeing men worn down by women who pick them apart and boss them around like they’re incompetent, and I won’t take part in that.
•I’m low-maintenance. If I need my hair or nails done, I do it myself. For free. If I need new clothes, I stay well within a budget (I rarely buy clothes anyway). I don’t demand attention or gifts or elaborate date nights. I don’t need to know every detail of every conversation with every person. I don’t keep tabs on where he goes or who he talks to. Short story- a couple months ago, a young woman started a job where my husband works. She’s a mess; bad relationship, wild life. My husband offered to help her with a vehicle problem a couple of times, and after that she started seeking him out and wanting to ask for his help with stuff around her house. He refused, but gave her names of people who could help. She still kept following him around at work, and one day he came home and handed me a slip of paper- it had this girl’s Facebook name written on it and said “add me”. He told me he felt she was trying to find a life raft to rescue her from her problems and had picked him. He refused to add her, and told her that she needed to stick to her own work space. He also told her if she needed a friend, a shoulder to cry on, she could contact Me. I’m good with that; I love that my husband can use me as a way to extract himself from a situation like that. It’s also why I can be content to not know everything about his day and not demand he tell me.
•I forget...
•Seriously, I think I’m done, I just haven’t figured out how to end this.
•I can bake a mean apple pie.