It may seem awfully cruel and mean-spirited for me to be happy, grateful even, that today, Hubbie had a trying day with baby girl.
But you really need to see it in context.
A couple of days ago I was sitting at the dinner table, my head in my hands, telling him how I wanted to rip my hair out!
Baby girl was in a weird way lately. Talking back constantly. Arguing at my every request. Putting up a fight for any little thing possible. It was insane. I didn’t want to let her get away with it, so it meant me constantly telling her what she was saying or doing was wrong or not nice, and this in itself created more of a cycle of stress!
He chuckled to himself while watching me.
“You think this is funny? I’ll ask you on Wednesday if you think it’s so funny. GOOD LUCK.”
It wasn’t a wish. It was a challenge.
Today, Wednesday, I got home from work – LATE. I had had to make a stop on the way home, and leaving so much later meant I was on the Monash freeway later…. and I crawled, I swear, for the entire stretch of freeway. I had left the city at 5:10, and I got home before 7pm.
ARGH.
But I was happy. I was home. The sun was out. I moved towards the front door, and as I turned the corner –
swoosh! a butterfly had been hanging around on our fly screen door, and as I came closer it flew off, almost colliding with my face.
It gave me such a shock, and rattled my nerves so much, that it took me several minutes to calm the fuck down still my beating heart.
Inside, I went to give baby girl a kiss. As I leaned down to kiss her head, she went all baby girl on me, and jumped excitedly…
OUCH! Her head hit my lip, and the pain seared all over.
I stomped upstairs, to find a red bruise on my lips.
Great. Just fucking great.
I was now seriously peeved. I had come home, wanting respite from the mammoth traffic jam that had been my route home, and instead was assaulted by winged insects and young girls. I may as well have stayed at work.
Instead I sat down with Hubbie and baby girl to eat. He had made pan-fried chips with our dinner, as I had requested last night. This made me happy, as when I said it I hadn’t seriously expected him to do it – but he did. We ate in silence, as he was breathing heavily with his own shit weighing upon him, and I had my own reasons as to why I was major cranky-pants – and then there was baby girl in between us, chowing down on her pasta.
Once enough food had gone into us, we started to open up, and talk…
And he began to tell me all the ways in which she had been difficult that day.
Arguing at the park. Falling over. Crying. Having it her way – ALL DAY. Making him buy her stuff. Squirting him with water when they washed the car. Insisting she went out to ride her bike in the maximum heat of the day at 5pm.
He said he had gained 10 grey hairs just that day.
“Ha!” I exclaimed. “And you were laughing at me days ago? Now do you see why I am the way I am???”
He didn’t say a word, instead a small grin coming onto his face. He knew I was right.
“Sorry, but not sorry…. suffer in your jocks.”
And though the most juvenile thing to say, it was actually the most fitting and he took it well… after all, the hose had gone in that direction.
(And then we proceeded through all the nagging talk to still bestow upon baby girl a million kisses by bedtime 🙂 She always wins.)
carcrashgratitude 