Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Boys Will Be Boys

This post is Day two in the April A-Z Blog Challenge.
If you're looking for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge you'll find it just before this post. 

B is for Boys will be Boys

I grew up in a home with two sisters and one brother. He is a saint. Okay, not literally, but he is without a doubt the most easy-going, patient person I've ever known.


My dad was a man's man, and my brother was an athlete, but still it's hard to combat all that estrogen in a two story house. One must learn to deal.  

Hubs grew up in a home with two brothers and one sister. He is number one son and his sister is number four child. Like my brother (only the polar opposite) she too had to navigate a strange new world. 


One filled with gallons of testosterone, a whole lotta wrestling, and later a heaping helping of teenage boy attitude. Times three! Hubs likes to say his house growing up was a little like The Cartwrights. Disagreement with your brother? Let's wrestle it out. Literally.

Hubs family is a lay it all out there kind of people.
My family is a let's walk on eggshells kind of people.

These two families were united for all time one warm June day back in 1984.  

In the course of almost thirty years of marriage it's only natural issues will arise from time to time. Incidents will occur that need to be handled. Options need weighing, plans need planning, decisions need deciding. Sometimes observations about life in general beg to be shared, and do you know what all of the above have in common if you're me? 

Words. 
Lots and lots of words. 

I need to fill in the back story and the front story and all the details in between. The what ifs, the plan a, b, c....z. The possibilities and potential pitfalls. 

Do you know what hubs will sometimes say? With utmost restraint he'll say, 'Can you just give me the bottom line? '

In my head I say no! No No NO.  I'm not a bottom line kind of girl. 
I need to give you the beginning and the middle before I can give you the bottom line. 

Sometimes I give him the bottom line.

And sometimes he lets me use all my words. 

And sometimes I appreciate his ability to cut to the heart of the matter, to summarize all my many words into a cohesive unit.

And sometimes all my many words make him smile and remember why he loves me.  

12 comments:

  1. Compromise and working together ... very important in any partnership, especially so in marriage.

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  2. This was sweet. As a girl who was born after four brothers, I can totally relate to your poor sister-in-law!

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  3. Joyce, it never ceases to amuse me how similar our husbands are. He grew up with 2 brothers and his family lays it all out there. My family is a walk-on-eggshells kind of people. I use words; he wants the bottom line. We've been making it work for 28 years. :)

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  4. Your last line made me smile! :-)

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  5. Good post. Hubby is a bottom line kinda guy. However, he'll listen to me all day. But when he's thinking about things, he just all of the sudden gives me the outcome of his thoughts and I have no idea what's going on, because I didn't know what he had been thinking at all. haha

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  6. My husband would agree that the bottom line is enough - but he too allows more WORDS on most occasions because words are my love language - after all, he MUST KNOW all the DETAILS. :)

    I started A-Z as well this month - such fun!! :)

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  7. Love this, and love the pictures. I have only one brother, and he is NOT a man of few words--he grew up to be a minister! As a result, I don't talk as much as some people, but I make up for it with all the words I write. :) "C" you tomorrow.
    Blessings,
    Linda

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  8. I loved this post and really needed it. I mentioned a while back that there are issues in our family and thankfully, we are reaching a much better place. So, understanding the dynamics within a family is so important. You have such a way with words, and I do so appreciate your gift. But, my hubby is like yours - just skip to the facts, Ma'am.

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  9. Oh, how funny! I want to share the beginning, middle and ending as well. Hubby just tunes me out until I get to the "meat" of the matter. He grew up with two sisters and I grew up with two brothers and we were both the oldest. Makes our lives more than a little interesting. :o) Always enjoy your entries!

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  10. Great post - I'm an only, but I can totally relate to your back and forth with your husband about getting to the bottom line...where's the fun in that?

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  11. Great post, family dynamics and that bottom line but you have to get to it using words and lots of them if necessary.

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  12. Love it....my hubs is fast forward...get to the meat of the story! I'm somewhere in between....sometimes want to know the end than give me the details.

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