He Knows Better Than To Try
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 3:12PM So.
Tired.
Also?
So.
Old.
Reagan, Hayden and I are all getting up at 4:30. They, then, go work for 6-9 hours a day outside in some pretty impressive heat indexes.
I go back to bed. When I get up again I do house work in the air conditioned, climate controlled house.
Guess who is more tired?
Yep. The old person.
A reasonable person might ask (as my sister did last night), "Why doesn't Rich get up with the kids in the mornings sometimes?"
That is a great question. He is, after all, a good guy and a good father. He would get up with the kids and do so with a good attitude except:
1) He sleeps like the dead. To get him up at 4:30 would require me waking up and then waking him up several times before he got to an upright position.
2) Then I, already awake, would lie there and listen to him getting the kids ready.
3) I would not like what I heard. I would conclude that he was doing it wrong.
Wrong = not the way that I believe it should be done.
4) That would cause me to lie awake and stew. Stewing at 4:30 in the morning would lead to frustration and further wakefulness.
5) So then I would get up and start doing all the things my way (aka the right way) and Rich would give me a dumbfounded look and ask why in the heck we were both up.
6) This would be an excellent point but at 4:30, already tired and frustrated I would never admit it.
7) Probably unpleasant words and attitudes would ensue. Actually, not probably - definitely.
8) Things would get ugly.
Frankly, I don't have the energy for ugly right now. And as tired as I am, normal ugly would become Uber Ugly when you factored in the crabbiness quotient.
The beautiful thing about 19 years of marriage? I know all of this up front so I can have all the conversations in my head and work out all the logistics and come to the final conclusion without having the fight.
So it seems that the good parts of getting old may just balance out the bad.
Detassling, Life Lessons, Lists, Marriage, Rich
Reader Comments (16)
We are so much alike it scares me. I would be the same way. I thought to myself today, as I was in the laundromat with my darling husband folding clothes, that I am most probably a control freak. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something about the way he was folding clothes. Seriously? Clothes folding? How OCD am I? I re-loaded the dishwasher this morning after he did the breakfast dishes. I'm a terrible person.
What I love is that you already went through the process, had the arguement, saw both sides of the issue, and came to the logical conclusion all in your head...AAANNNDDD it probably took less than 7 min.
Mindee, I love you!!!! I am glad you have it figured out. I am the same way and do not do well when things are not done "my" way. I can be a real "pip" that way.
Hugs to you,
Ardee-ann
"Wrong = not the way that I believe it should be done." amen and hallelujah.
I, too, would be responsible for getting up at 4:30 to get my child to detassel and not my husband. This is why my child is not detasseling. It's me who can't handle that early time of day. Think some people "work out" at that hour. Isn't that one unbelievable??? I don't know many, but they exist....I heard.
that's exactly why i didn't insist olli and i share night duty with benjy- i would be awake anyway, listening to him unsuccessfully sooth the child. WAY easier if i just do it myself.
Oh, you are so funny!
I feel old too! I'm so glad I'm not the only one, girls my age try to hide it. So this means that my daughter is the one that should be getting up at 4:30 with the puppy because all she has to do the next day is take care of 9 rabbits, 2 dogs, and 2 cats, whereas I have to run a household. So why am I still getting up? I think it's like your scenario, I'd have to get up to wake her up and------ what you said.
Amen I hear ya loud and clear!
I think you deserve an afternoon nap... For sure. Everyday.
Marla @ www.asthefarmturns.wordpress.com
I would just get up at 4:30 too, I get annoyed when I hear my husband getting annoyed because he doesn't know/doesn't like/or just isn't used to doing it (i.e. getting the kids ready and fed). I'd save myself the hassle. If I could sleep like a log though, look out, my husband would be getting up.
Happy Saturday (night)
We are kindred spirits I think : )
I'm so like you! If things aren't do MY way, then they are wrong. And then things get ugly, because I get mad because things weren't done my way. Which is the best way ever possible. Ha!
You are one smart lady and much stronger than I. I'm the heavy sleeping in my marriage and there is no 4:30 wake up call for this woman.
I am spending these couple of days with my cousin's kids, and I sympathize exactly with your tired issue - thought I stay up far, far later than them, chatting with my cousins, I am so much more exhausted during the day.
Oh, the trials of being old.
p.s.~ Neither of us is old.
So true. That is a benefit to being married for awhile! Things are much more predictable! 19 years . . . congrats!!
I'm sure you have all sorts of great marriage tips you could give us. We moved most of Kevin's stuff in last week. It was really hard (where I've lived there for two years alone) to let him choose where he wants to put things and not tell him, "don't do that," or "you're supposed to clean THIS way." I'm just waiting to see what it'll be like once I finally realize that we're married and he's not going to go home every night!