January 12, 2016

Little Things


 Relationships have their own little quirks. I just read a blog or a link from Facebook on little mundane parts of romantic relationships. It reminded me of a couple of choices my husband and I have made over the years that have inspired our friends and family to scratch their heads in wonder.

We wanted to buy a car that would fit our three kids and the minimum of three additional kids that typically tagged along. We piled ten of us (including 8 teenagers) into my Plymouth Satellite for a ride back home from town one afternoon. Thank God and Detroit for boats! We knew an investment in a larger vehicle needed to be made. By 'larger' I mean longer not wider! 

We always sat close to each other on our bench seats. When he drove his truck, I was smack dab next to him. When I drove the white boat, he was next to me, blocking the rear view mirror with his handsome head (Thank God and Detroit, again, this time for right side mirrors).

We choose a brand new Dodge Caravan. We searched for one with a bench seat in front. We drove everywhere looking for one on a lot. We'd done our research and knew they existed. We drove to the San Francisco bay area, south bay and east bay. We searched the lots in Sacramento and Stockton. Each salesman told us we were crazy and there was no such creature. In Redding, we found a salesperson who knew his stuff. He kept in touch with what was happening in the market. We ordered one through him.

Sadly, it didn't arrive soon enough for our vacation to Florida so we bought a Caravan off-the-lot from him. It was steel blue, just like I wanted. It had baby blue upholstery, just like I wanted. It had divided front seats. We loved it anyway. You could move back and forth, front to back. The dog could sit between us on the floor so we could still make goo-goo eyes at each other or steal kisses. We drove it, filled with kids, dogs and camping gear to a remote site on Shasta Lake. It was wonderful. We could still sit next to each other in our trucks!

We loved to spoon on the couch while watching tv or a movie. Problem was our sofa was so shallow that whoever was laying in front would spill off the couch. We decided to buy new furniture! We bought a wonderful sofa and love seat that was deep enough that we could spoon and a grandchild could lay in front, arms all around each other while we watched our favorite shows. The problem with that? Every adult who sat on our sofa sat with their legs straight out, like a small child. Even my 6' 5" son couldn't sit all the way back and touch the floor. We invested in about 1200 pillows to help people retain their dignity but finally gave the set away and joined the world of adults. We watch our favorites in bed! Our living room and family room furniture gives the appearance that mature beings live here....well, except for the Mickey Mouse castle, blocks, sponge letters and numbers and children's books spread about.

I have a bad (apparently) habit of bartering. My husband thinks I'm trying to make bargains all the time. I think I'm just working towards efficiency or to being together. Drive's Frank crazy.

I'll say, "Let's go in the kitchen. If you empty the dishwasher, I'll make dinner!"  Or 'If you move the clothes from the washer into the dryer, I'll run in the bedroom and get the other load for the washer."

He wants me to just say, "Frank, will you empty the dishwasher. I'm going to make dinner"  I'm trying to, but it seems so bossy, as if I was the one who sleeps on the right side of the bed! Frankly, I think he's a bit of a nit-picker but he's cute and kisses good, so what the hell!

What quirks do you have in your relationships? Are you together because you both don't like mustard?  What little personal quirks do you have that drives the other crazy?


12 comments:

  1. we both like baseball, monty python, MST3K, cats, no kids, the ocean (in the off season only), seafood, chinese/indian/italian food.

    we complete each other's sentences.

    "If you empty the dishwasher, I'll make dinner!" - we also do this.

    been together 24 years this october.

    your spouse is handsome! ;-)

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    1. "let's now bicker about who killed who!" We talk in movie quotes all the time and Monty Python is one of our favorites. He completes my sentences and I get pissed!!! We've been together for 34 years, married 32 in May.

      You two sound like you were made for each other.

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  2. HAHAHA! I love this; so much fun to read. What a fun couple you are; we'd be good friends if we lived closer. My husband and I are full of quirks, we even have a language of our own. We've made up our own names for things we enjoy and could probably talk in code in front of others if we needed to say something private to one another.

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    1. Sounds fun. We don't have names made up for things but it's weird how he'll say random things like, "I was thinking of that movie with the guy" and I know what movie and what guy. You two sound fun.

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  3. We are so full of quirks, I couldn't list them all. We think very differently, and yet will say the exact same thing at the exact same time. He knows nothing about Pop Culture--and thinks every blond woman is Madonna--and I know next to nothing about classical music--while he can tell you EVERYTHING.

    But it's the quirks--the an CANNOT load a dishwasher to save his life--that make this ride fun.

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    1. Sounds like a great balance and perfect match. Do you both enjoy the 2CELLOS ~ a little bit of you and a little bit of him!

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  4. I love how you are focusing your decisions on how to make your time together the best one ever. I do believe that's a secret ingredient to a happy marriage :)
    My husband and I love being silly together. I'm sure other people would constantly roll their eyes but we wouldn't want to exchange our deep belly laughs for anything.
    Have a wonderful day! And thank you for your lovely comment :)

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    1. Be happy you get the eye rolls. They are so much better than yawns!

      Thank you, the day was, indeed, wonderful.

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  5. Ray and I get along sooo great but rest assured we drive each other crazy too. Example of one thing that comes to mind. We both agree to watch a movie neither one of us has seen. We turn it on and five minutes in, he's asking me questions. I haven't seen it yet!! How do I know. Drives me nuts..Lol

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    1. That drives me crazy, too. Our family is more about how fake something is, or how impossible or how 'computers don't do that'! Or they make up conversation between the actors! It's hard to get lost in the fantasy of a movie or television if anyone else is around.

      Frank and I actually compete on who can solve the 'who done it" first or who can see the twist coming up. We're pretty equal on that.

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  6. Toni have you ever visited this site http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/10/24/what-were-you-born-to-do/

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    1. Visited today. What a lovely soul Jean seems to be. I will read more tomorrow. Thanks for the referral. What were you born to do?

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