So, I laid it out for him...

Well, remarkably enough, my hubby provided me with a perfect example of the differences in how we treat each other. It was brought up this morning with a promise to discuss it further this evening.


Here's what happened this morning. I hear the dogs whine in the dark of our room. I turn over to notice that the clock says 4:17. I hear him grunt and groan, but he still lies there. After several minutes of doggie cries, he gets up and struggles to find his pants. I hear lots of loud grumbling and even a curse or two before the bathroom light violently erupts in the bedroom. He leaves the door open while he urinates, and walks out out of the room pushing the door closed quickly and leaving the flood of fluorescent lights to cover both me and the bed. Upon his return, he again snaps the door closed, turns off the lights, and with a loud thud closes the bathroom door again. Finally, he plops back in the bed with me.

And here's what happened yesterday. I feel the nudge of our collie mix's nose and look up to see that it is 4:13 am. I gingerly roll myself out of bed and tiptoe to the bathroom where I silently close the door before I flip on the light. Once finished, I turn the light back off before I carefully turn the doorknob to leave the bathroom. I locate my pajama pants and carry them to the living room, easing the bedroom door closed. I take the dogs out to relieve themselves and return to our living room where I lie on the couch and watch a little low-volume VH1 and pet the pooches until it's time for my alarm to go off at 5.

I had never noticed these differences before and may not have done so this time if it hadn't been back to back mornings. I brought this to his attention this morning. I told him that it was the love and respect that I have for him that told me to be as quiet as I could so that he could continue sleeping. I also pointed out, (and reassured myself as well), that I performed the very same job BEFORE he did it. I wanted to make sure that he didn't think that I had followed his bad morning with a good one just so I could say "See, how much better I treat you!" He said he was sorry and got a little angry when I muttered "you always are". (Yes, not productive, I know, but frustration can get mean sometimes.) So, then I tried to explain that it wasn't the words that were important; it was the actions. "Anyone can say I LOVE YOU; It's your job to make me feel like the words are actually true!!" I wanted to avoid an argument, this was all very congenial, so at this point we agreed to discuss it this evening.

Basically, I am keeping my hopes high. Unfortunately, his track record isn't the best. He does really well for a few weeks then it right back to the status quo!!

On a side note, I weighed this morning and last weeks debauchle only cost me the addition of 1 pound! I can live with that!!!