My darling, dearest husband, love of my life, finder of lost keys and wallets, maker of damn-fine meals, source of all naughty bedtime stories, is NOT high strung with the status of the house. He is NOT anal-retentive regarding household chores. He is NOT freaky obsessive, but only sporadically and therefore unpredictably, about laundry on the floor or hair in the bathroom.
However, he is blessed with the wife who IS all these things.
When phrased like this, it appears I am the source of chore-conflict. Flip-flop your point of view, and the story has a different edge.
I have yet to chat with a married person who says, "Oh yes, my spouse and I are in perfect agreement regarding household cleanliness." Sometimes I feel we are in endless dejavu....
Spouse 1: Honey, I really need you to (fill in the blank of stupid task)
Spouse 2: Sure Babe, I'll get to that (when hell freezes over)
Spouse 1: How is it that yesterday it was OK to leave clothes all over the floor, but today I'm a (fill in the blank insult) for doing it?
Spouse 2: I'm an adult and you need to back off and let me take care of it how I want (which is to ignore it for a few more days)
AHHHHHHHH!!!!
I know we'll never come to a perfect agreement about chores. We both think, quietly, that our way is best and the other person just needs to buck up and relax/step up to the plate. Neither one of us is terribly good at compromise, as much as we tout it as the holy grail of conflict resolution. And while maybe I don't like the way he washes dishes/folds laundry/cleans bathtubs, the man does have his uses.
He puts up shelves and takes care of electronic equipment. Oh, and he's responsible for power tools in the yard. And heavy lifting and digging. I almost forgot hauling shit around in his truck. And he painted the bedroom Purple Passion and hung our curtains. And he's really good to his mother-in-law.
And he's a TIGER in th...nevermind.
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