8 Things My Wife Wishes She Could Change… About Me

Hello Gr8ful Women! Thanks for inviting me into your world. Ever since I met my Moogster… (oh, wait… she didn’t tell you all about the nicknames? Oops!)…I’ve known that there is something special about her. Over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate how unique she is, and I’m excited at this blogging endeavor.  I feel honored to be invited to share with you all…although my first interaction with you all is to share about my flaws….but I digress. Where was I… oh, yes, I’m honored to come and share with you all and hope there’s some dignity still left in me by the time it’s done. I almost tapped out, but I didn’t want to disappoint Moogie-Moo :D.

So, while we were out on a date celebrating my birthday last week, Sugar-Banana asked me about 8 things I would change about her. It felt like a setup and my first instinct was to blurt out “nothing, my sweet potato chip! Thou art ever so perfect, oh graceful one!” But I didn’t want any lightening to strike, and besides, Jelly-Beans and I have gotten to a place where our relationship is quite healthy and we can share anything with each other, so I obliged. Little did I know that she wanted me to ask her the same questions, and I did. The following is the response I received from her.

1. Not staying on top of chores. Ouch! Straight for the jugular.  Well… she’s right. We actually created a chore calendar a few years ago. My Gummy-Bear even color-coded them so I knew which chores were mine, and on which days they were to be done. She also placed it in a prominent spot—on the mirror in the bathroom. I think I  did OK for a good while, but after about a week, I fell off the wagon…and I’m still chasing it. I need to get caught up because I know how much of an organizational fre..I mean, organized person she is, and it must drive her up the wall when things aren’t done when they should.

2. Leaving shoes all over the place. As a kid, my favorite books to read were Dr. Suess books, and by favorite I mean FAVORITE! Now, you must be asking yourself, what does Dr Suess books have to do with you leaving your shoes all over the place? I know, I know, stay with me. For some reason, I vividly remember a Dr Suess book about shoes. “One shoe, two shoes, red shoes blue shoes. Shoes in the foyer, shoes on the nightstand, shoes in the freezer by the rack of lamb.”  Sounds familiar? No? Maybe it’s just me. But I do tend to leave my shoes everywhere, and didn’t realize it until my Apple-Pie pointed it out. So I’ll make an effort to do better.

3. Not putting clothes in the hamper. To my defense, there are literally 100 hampers in our home…but just to be fair, let me go and count them…brb….(1 minute later). OK, so there are actually 5 hampers, I don’t know where the other 95 magically disappeared to.  I often don’t know which is which…OK, that’s not totally true… but sometimes I’m not sure if I’m going to wear a piece of clothing later or not. It’s that in-between stage where it’s not totally fresh, but, it could survive another day. So I don’t put it back in the closet because it’s not clean enough, but then I don’t want to put it in the hamper because I can at least get another 1 or 2 more wears out of it…decisions, decisions. So yeah, they end up on top of the closet door…. or the bed. So the moral of the story is that I need to find the “in-between” hamper. :-/

Not hanging clothes up. As Homer Simpson would say; doh! If I had read this earlier, I would have used the previous excuse for this one…and by excuse I mean explanation… I must say, though,  that it’s a lot harder to hang things up, than it is to take them off the hanger. It’s like the clothes are actually fighting with you to get on the hanger. Oh, and then when you try to put them back on the clothing rack, it’s like war! The other hangers don’t want to move over and make room, so you have to start shifting them from the end of the rack just to make room… What drama! What drama I tell ya! Nevertheless, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Pray for me.

Not taking out the trash regularly. Ladies and gentleman (the one guy whose wife is making him read this because of the trash), I’m guilty as charged. Butter-Pancakes is right about this one, and she’s been quite patient with me. I think one thing that will help me is not waiting for it to pile up, but to take it out each evening.

Leaving dirty dishes on the table. OK, this is getting bad people. Uhh… guilty again. Yep, very guilty. I guess in my mind, I will eventually take them to the kitchen (the operative word here being eventually). But I guess Pecan-Pie wants it done right away. As a matter of fact, sometimes, like last night, I’m still sitting at the table when she points to the dishes and asks “so, I guess these aren’t going to make it to the sink huh?” “Uhh, not unless they grow arms, legs, and bungee jump off this table, dear wife”, I replied…in my head. I need to change eventually to immediately. I’m going to do my best!

Working too much at home. I work in media and communications, and I love my job! It’s also actually an awesome (how’s that for a tongue-twister?) hobby for me. I love the creative process of bringing ideas to life visually. I love researching and learning about current and emerging trends in media and communications, and how I can apply them on various projects. The challenge is I do have a significant work-load, and there are times, quite often, when I have to bring work home to get caught up. Also, ideas come to me at the craziest of times! I may be watching the Cat in the Hat with our daughter and get a creative inspiration in that moment! However, I need to have a healthy work-life balanced, and I’ve been working on that.

Not preparing the night before—clothes, lunch, etc to help us leave the house on time. (Yep, she wrote all of that). Here’s the thing people, my wife is highly organized, and by highly I mean to the uttermost. She has wall calendars, and fridge calendars. Our iPhone calendars are synced to make sure we know who’s doing what, when and where. She has large planners, and small planners, short planners, and tall planners; red planners, and blue planners….. I bet she even knows what she’s going to be doing on March 28, 2028. She picks out her clothes for the entire week…in advance. She also picks out the baby’s clothes and puts them in little Rubbermaid organizers in the baby’s room. Each night, she asks “so what’s the plan for tomorrow?” “Uhh…waking up” is my typical response…in my head. Even though she won’t admit it, her favorite hobby is….drumroll…organizing :). Ok, maybe it’s all a bit of a stretch, but she’s good at planning and being organized, and that’s great because I’m the exact opposite. (Interestingly enough I’m pretty organized when it comes to work…hmmm…she’s going to say something about this. I just know it.)  Also, with a baby, I realize the value of being organized in the home and preparing in advance the night before because we have to be in 3 different places in the morning. So she’s right, I need to be intentional in preparing the night before, so that we’re not stressed and stumbling about in the morning.

Well, there you have it Gr8ful Women, my business is all out there for the world to see. (Sorry for writing a novel, I should have asked what the word count was.) I’m blessed with an incredible wife, and whatever I need to do to make her life easy, I’ll oblige. It’s been gr8 sharing with you all. Until next time, ciao!

—Henry