Marital Bliss

Last year, on the forth of July, I forced the entire family into cutesy red, white, and blue outfits. When a random stranger walking by offered to take our picture, we ended up with this gem -

Honestly. Does it get cuter than this?

 

Last weekend we were invited to a Memorial Day BBQ. Remembering fondly how fab we all looked in our matching patriotic gear, I picked out outfits. For everyone. Joe included.

(I feel the need to pause here and explain that every time we go anywhere – EVERY time, ANYwhere – Joe asks for my input on his outfit. I get dragged into the closet “Does this match? What shirt do you think with this? How about this outfit?” for my opinion. Which is great. It saves him the trouble of having to change if I veto his selection. It’s been this way for years, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. It’s just the way of things.)

Anyway, the kids both are dressed and looking fantastic. V has on a ruffly cotton sundress in navy, Jonas is wearing a red, white, and blue striped polo with navy shorts. Cute, cute, cute. Joe says (and yes, I’m quoting here) -

“Wow! You kids look great! What shirt should I wear, Mommy?” (Yeah, he totally calls me Mommy. All the time. That’s a different post.)

Me: Your red and white polo. I already pulled it out for you.

And right here, things took a turn. It was so shocking to him, that I had an answer to the shirt question. Despite the fact that he had JUST ASKED MY OPINION, he was completely flabbergasted (Word Girl word!) that I had already planned his outfit.

J: What? You’re dressing me now? Like one of the kids?

M: Now?

J: ……….

M: What? As opposed to when? Is this a new thing?

J: Jennifer, I’m a grown man.

M: Ok…..

J: ………..

M: Wait. You just ASKED me what shirt you should wear! Am I somehow being penalized for already having an answer? I did something wrong by thinking ahead?

J: You don’t see that it was a little presumptuous?

M: I think the word you’re looking for there is “proactive.”

 

Things just deteriorated from there. It may or may not have ended up on Facebook, for the entertainment of our fans. (My friends are sooooooo delighted that Joe is on FB now.  Apparently, we can be quite amusing whilst arguing over polo shirts in a public forum.)

 

Lesson to be learned – always act like it’s a surprise when your husband asks for your help with something, no matter how long you’ve been providing this particular service for him.

(Alternate lesson to be learned for the husbands – if you’re going to act all put out and grumpy, ask yourself this question: “Whooooo has the blog in this family?” Heh.)

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