15 - love

In thinking about a title to this post, I have come up blank. My brain keeps playing Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield." But really, only because of the title. The lyrics (sorry Pat) are inane. I mean, "you come on with a come on, you don't fight fair." Seriously? Come on with a come on. Seems like a case of not knowing what to put next, you know? Like "Those pants are as tight as... tight pants." Whatever. But I wanted to just tell you about a small but in no way insignificant victory in my marriage.

Last weekend, we were supposed to visit with Sharon and Steve for dinner. They wanted to play a board game with us. They were expecting us there at around 5pm. I had wanted to get there as soon as possible because I had picked up a few things from the store for the dinner and needed to get them cooking at Sharon's house. Well, my hubby was dragging his feet because he couldn't get his printer to spit out my son's homework assignment. Something about ink nozzles being clogged.

I was of the mind that if my son didn't finish his homework, that wasn't my problem. I know that sounds cold, but it is a Love & Logic thing. He's got to pay his own consequences. He might have started on the project in Friday instead of Sunday and we would have known about the printer problem, but I digress (and am sounding like a nag while I go on about it.) I gave my opinion, but my husband was having none of it. He said that all he had to do was print it out but he'd been having problems. That wasn't the boy's fault. So, I told my husband that he would have to drive my car and I'd be taking the van because I had already loaded up the stuff for Sharon & Steve in the back of the van.

Now, here's the part that I was embarrassed to admit to all of you, but I think it is an essential part of the story. A couple of years ago, my husband bought me a CD for Christmas. It was a CD that he said he had a little trouble buying, because he had never in his lifetime, purchased a CD from the display at the front of a music store. Ever. It was the Clay Aiken CD. Yes, it was the year he was on American Idol. Yes, I watched American Idol that year. Yes, I voted for Clay. Yes, I asked for that CD. Do you think less of me now? Well, I had forgotten that I had that CD and a few weeks ago, I stumbled across it. It was like visiting an old friend. And on the way back from the hospital that day, I was blasting it on the speakers. Now do you think less of me? Even I laugh at myself a little for blasting Clay Aiken on my speakers. Whatever.

I was at Sharon and Steve's house when I remembered that I had left the car stereo on playing Clay Aiken's "Invisible." I instantly busted up laughing and wished that I could have been there when he turned the key.

He made it to the party only about 30 minutes later and didn't say anything.

I asked him about it later that evening. He told me that when he turned the ignition, Clay was belting his poor breaking heart out. My husband blindly started hitting the console with the flat of his hand, hoping that something he hit would turn off the sound. When he finally got it off, my son said, "Whew. Thanks Dad." Nobody in my family appreciates good pop music.

Okay, so I have to ask, do you think less of me now?