Wednesday, November 12, 2008

When opposites attract it becomes entertaining

My husband and I have lots of oppositions in our life. And that's just between the two of us. He was talking to an older customer and his wife (for 45 minutes, which is nothing by comparison to 2 or 3 hours with a customer the day before) about the recessed lighting they were buying when they asked about the different types of compact fluorescent bulbs available and compatible with the fixtures they selected. My husband was telling about the bright daylight type which he prefers, the blue-ish one, and the yellower light that I prefer (because they don't hurt my eyeballs like the other two-but rest assured he did not explain that). The couple sort of smirked. He went on to say that we fight over the kind of lightbulbs we use, but that's really nothing. We're full of differences and we fight all the time, and after 16 years of being with someone, it's definitely interesting. They chuckled. He felt a need to expound on his comments, and went with it. He followed with what would be "my lines" about the differences in workplace (competing locations, although technically I'm a VENDOR, and not an employee of that location), differences in religion (he's Baptist, I'm Catholic), and sports teams (He's a Gator Fan, I'm a Seminole Fan). By this point the couple was well entertained by our story.

Now, we did fight a whole hell of a lot when we were younger. In his mind he was always right and that was all that mattered. In my mind he was seldom, if EVER right, and that was all that mattered. I think, and this is merely a supposition drawn from a really un-sunny place, that we have managed to wise up and see a reasonable (purely subjective form of this word's use by the way) median in which to meet. Either that or we realized not one other single soul on this earth would put up with our crap like we put up with each other's crap and we figured we can live with that.
I realized that he's an utter OX and OAF like his father, and once I figured out a few things that made his dad tick, I used it to my advantage. Call it feminine wiles or guile. I don't care. I think he may have realized what he was up against and thought better of the act he'd been giving. Or maybe someone sat him down and had a come-to-Jesus with him. I don't know, and some things a girl goes to her grave not knowing. I just know that the only thing that has prevented the utter demise of our relationship is the Divine Intervention that brought us together, friends and family, and this really strong will we both have. We are both of Irish descent (me 50%, him probably less), and he's got some Native American tribal ties. He's an Aries, and I'm an Aquarius. So it's a passionate combination. Passionate doesn't always mean in the hormonal sense either. We both have a temper that is a force to be reckoned with when it flares. We're both stubborn and I think that has been the one key ingredient that has kept us together. Because I'm sure as heck not going to let his butt off the hook THAT easily.

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