Over the weekend we are driving into Portland for some brunch, errands, and my favorite–an artisan craft fair. While multi-tasking on my iPhone I say something about adding something to our list for the day, and then mumble: “you must love my lists” (noted in a sarcastic tone). His response: “Your lists keep us together.”
I will remind you (in case you are not aware). Chris is a relatively quiet guy. He does not talk if he does not have anything to say, and often I have to pry his thoughts out of him. So when I got this long response, I quickly grabbed a pen and pad of paper from the glove box (because quite frankly I am old school and I cannot type that fast on my iPhone).
The rest of the conversations goes like this…quotes are Chris’ words:
“There are 2.5 things we fight about – whenever we fight – which is rare:
- My lack of follow through or lack of communication.
- Your hunger tantrums – aka when you are “hangry.”
- #3 is really 2.5, as it only gets really 1/2 a point in my mind… When you comment on my driving.
Your lists are what keep us together. It keeps us on the same page. So keep adding items to your lists, keep tracking as you do.”
Not only was that a succinct quote from my hubby, it was also very profound. He is right. We rarely fight and it usually is over something that was not communicated, or miscommunicated, or my biggest pet peeve of all is lack of follow through. I am not going to comment on #2.5 because as a passenger I reserve the right to share my concern when I have one. You might be thinking, “How is it possible that you only have 2.5 things you generally fight about?” I have to agree with him that is the complete list. #1 is for him, #2 is for me, and like I said we’ll just ignore #2.5.