Country Chatter

Marriage is the unique blending of two people to compliment each others strengths and weaknesses.  My husband and I have been married over 41  wonderful years.   We have a good marriage but there are some differences between us.

Gene is an early riser,  I am a night-owl.  By the time my head hits the pillow, I am asleep for the night.  He counts sheep in the middle of the night. He is up prowling around, drinking coffee and doing office work during the best sleeping hours of the morning.   But it doesn’t take long after supper for him to crash on the sofa, snuggled in his blanket.  Of course he is not sleeping, he is watching TV!

I on the other hand enjoy my morning snooze.  I hit the floor running and allow just enough time to make my bed, get ready for the day and grab a bite to eat before heading out the door.  The best part of the day for me is after supper.  That is when I kick into second gear and can accomplish a day’s worth of work!

I like  Ranch & Italian dressing, butter,  Pepper Jack cheese, water, leafy green lettuce and anything sweet.  Gene likes French & Thousand Island dressing, margarine, American Cheese, tea, Iceberg lettuce and salty snacks.  My favorite vegetables are edamames, fried okra, and raw vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, radishes, turnips, etc.  He prefers snaps, corn, peas and limas.

I think the biggest conflict of our marriage occurred over “time”.  I like to be early and it did not seem to bother him at all to be late. We have managed through the years to settle into a comfortable routine. I have relaxed and he has improved!

I can go, go go and he prefers to chill, chill, chill.

I do not care for cats or dogs. In fact,  I made him promise before we got married that we would not have an animal in the house. He loves his dog.

He has to have noise when he sleeps such as a fan, TV or air-conditioner. I prefer it dark and quiet.  He likes to  “pile” and I am an organizer. Somehow this “piling” thing has rubbed off on me more than I like.

I am a people person and enjoy teaching, speaking and being involved in many things all at once.  He is at his best with one-on-one relationships and is very content to sit back out of the spotlight.

I tend to say what I think and he thinks what he says. I tend to have good first-impressions of  people but you can “lose” my favor.  With Gene, he holds you on reserve until you earn his approval.

Sometimes we take each other for granted but I wouldn’t trade our marriage for the world.  Our home is a comfortable place for us to be.