Happy Anniversary, Mrs. T-Z! I’ll miss you!

My wife is away for the entire month of July, and except for the 100-hour anxiety attack I suffered during the first week of her absence, I’m doing okay. In fact, I found the silver lining to her absence…the Netflix queue. Normally I’ve been very good about not pushing movies she wants to see from the top of the queue, but with her away, I can front-load the top of my Netflix cue with…MUSICALS! Yes, I think that the combined might of Stephen Sondheim and Richard O’Brien will be able to ease me through the separation anxiety of being without my wife on my first anniversary. I’ll miss you Mrs. T-Z, but I’ll always have Gypsy Rose Lee…

I didn’t realize that I was such a stereotype.

Mrs. T-Z suggested a while back that we have themed rooms in our house.  She simply meant that we could put all the Africana in the living room and all our friends’ artwork in the bedroom.  I, of course, take everything to extremes so I decided that every room in the apartment needed a theme.  Luckily with only four rooms in our apartment, this just left the kitchen and the bathroom.  The kitchen would obviously be for food-related decorations, and after much deliberation decided that the bathroom should be the black-and-white photography room. 

We don’t have that much black-and-white photography, but luckily we don’t have that much wall-space in our bathroom.  Our “theme” consists of two pictures.  One of Washington Square Park from Becky’s college years, and one of me from temple.  As I was hanging it, I commented on how thin I was back then. 

Mrs. T-Z says, “Yeah, I’m surprised that you still fit into those jeans.” 

She smirks at me, and I realize that I was wearing the same black Levis jeans as I was in the photograph.  I know that she’s commenting on my style of dress (or lack thereof) rather than my weight. 

I say, “Some things you just hold on to, you know?”

She suggests that it might be time to invest in a new pair of jeans.  I take the jeans and put them in the Goodwill pile to go to a new home.

The next day I go into work as I normally do.  It’s a pretty laid-back office, so I don’t need to wear a tie or anything.  Instead I usually go for the sweater-over-a-button-down-shirt look.  Boss-lady looks at me and tells me that I look “exactly like a theater director”.  She goes down a list of what she’s always imagined directors to look like: charcoal sweater over a colorful shirt, hair that says “I’ve got more important things to do than get a haircut”, and just a touch of facial hair. 

“The only thing that’s missing” she says, “is a pair of black jeans.  I always think of directors wearing the same ratty pair of black Levis that they have for decades, but your black slacks are nice too.” 

“Actually,” I say “funny thing about that…”

What I’ve Learned in My First Six Months of Marriage…or…The Gift of the (Newlywed) Magi…

The biggest thing that I’ve learned in the first six months of marriage is just to loosen up and try things your spouse’s way.  For those of you that think of me as very loose and carefree, it might surprise you that I find comfort in patterns.  I like find a way of doing things that works and then I keep doing it.  For example: I realize that it’s good for the pipes in the shower to drain, so I leave the the shower knob halfway between “shower” and “tub” so it drains fully.  Becky thinks that it should be turned all the way down to drain fully.  I decided to take the one thing I’ve learned about marriage to heart and do this one, small thing her way.  How hard is going to be to remember to turn the knob all the way down?  I can do this one thing for her, it will make her happy, and probably won’t effect our pipes one way or the other.

The problem is that I kept forgetting to do this one, simple thing.  Every time I shower I find that I gain left the toggle-knob was in the half-way position.  Every time and swear that at the end of the shower I’ll remember, but alas…each time I get in I realize that the knob is back half-way.  I feel really bad that I can’t remember to do this one small thing for Becky.  To my surprise it frustrated Becky just as much, but not for the reason I thought.  A couple of days ago Becky seemed upset and told me, ”I’ve been trying to leave the knob half-way like you like it, but I keep forgetting!  Everytime I get in the shower I realize that I left it all the way down!  I keep trying to remember, but I just can’t!”  I smile as I realize that we both had the same plan to make each other happy, but wound up foiling each other.  O. Henry would be proud.