Now that I’m home more, my wife and I have had to reorganize our domestic duties, and, of course, negotiate how we communicate with one another (or rather how I communicate with her.)
For example, I told my wife I couldn’t believe how much trash accumulates in the kitchen trash can, and how heavy the plastic container is when I pull it out, and haul it down stairs.
So one day a new trash can arrives and the old one disappears.
The only problem is, it’s smaller than the old one.
I couldn’t figure why it was smaller.
“Cheri” I asked, “did you buy a new trash can that’s smaller than the old one?”
“Yeap,” she responded.
“Why?” I asked.
She answered, “You complained that there was too much trash. So I bought a trash can that holds less trash.”
But I protested, “I’ll have to take out the trash more often.”
Her response, “Roger, you can either take out more trash less often, or take out less trash more often. What’s your choice?”
She caught me off guard. “Well, I don’t know right now.”
“Until you do,” she said matter of factly, “stop complaining.”
Lesson 1 – stop complaining.
Lesson 2 – there is no lesson 2.