Get Mad And Move On

Monday, October 27, 2008

filed under: love & sex

Guest blogger mom-on-the-edge: My best friend from high school and her husband flew in for a visit. I hadn't spent time with the two since their wedding day thirteen years earlier.

My friend, I knew, was outrageously smart, easy with a smile, always up for a good laugh. But she could also be stubborn, temperamental and have a short fuse.

Her husband, I discovered, was the same way, only he was set off by small things.

So, how could a couple with a temper times two survive, and for so long, without killing each other?

Their daughter's American Girl doll got her hair done. It cost about the same as if that doll were a bridesmaid at a wedding. It was an extravagance enjoyed only because they were on vacation. Otherwise, that money would have been spent on groceries. When my friend's husband noticed the doll's braid was loose, he almost blew a gasket. "Do you see what you did?" "Take better care of your doll! Look at her hair!" Their five-year-old remained calm and so did my friend. He blew off steam and they all let him.

Later, their eight-year-old son dropped my computer mouse. I didn't care. My son dropped it almost every day. "I told you not to touch other people's things. Look what you did now!" Again, a family filled with calm. No crying. No added drama.

They went to see my friend's brother. The half-hour train trip turned into two hours because they started out in the wrong direction and then they forgot to transfer. When they got back my friend said, "We'd be bad contestants on The Amazing Race." He took offense, "I don't think so. I think we'd do great. We get mad and we move on."

And, that's how they did it. That was the secret to their successful marriage.

I only wish my husband and I could do the same. Get mad and move on.

5 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

Wow how horrible for the kids to live in an environment like that! They are yelled at so much it doesn’t even phase them anymore. THey will probably grow up to have short fuses, hot heads and loud mouths too!

- Anonymous

Posted 10/27/08 09:11 AM

The doll got its hair done……?

- geen

Posted 10/27/08 12:49 PM

For this man to get this mad over such little things I’d have to say that he has some big issues bubbling under the surface… maybe he could use some counseling.

- AK Mom

Posted 10/27/08 05:45 PM

Yer man will probably blow completely one day and murder the whole family. Sounds like a fuse too short… Get mad and move on? What about get real and have some respect for your own family?

- A Nonny Mouse

Posted 01/16/09 07:10 AM

He sounds like a tool. There’s no reasong for yelling at a five year old for playing with her doll FFS. I would bet their home life is much less ideal than what you saw during your vacation together.

- wedge56

Posted 02/03/09 01:55 PM