Deeanne Gist - www.deeannegist.com - Inspirational Romance Author

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Some Kinda Wonderful--Part III

My husband operates in one gear: High gear. I, on the other hand, operate in a rather leisurely gear. (I like to stop and smell the roses; he likes to prune them.) Anyway, in our early married life he quickly discovered that it took him less than half the time to get any given job around the house completed than it would take me.

So, engineer that he is, he made us a picture graph. It listed all the household chores and the days they needed to be done. All of my chores were indicated with pink circles, all of his with blue circles. If it was a chore we shared, he made the circle half pink-half blue. The circles were assigned with a 60/40 split ... he doing 60% of the chores (because he was bigger, stronger and faster), me doing 40% of the chores.

I loved this because I'm a visual learner and it gave me something visual to schedule my day around. He loved it because I would actually do my chores.

These days, our chart is long gone (though I'd give anything had I saved it for posterity), but the 60/40 split is still intact. Greg washes dishes, cooks, vacuums, helps with schoolwork, does laundry, etc. About the only thing he simply does not do is make beds. That's it.

We went out for dinner with three other couples a while back and the guys sat on one side of the table, the girls on the other. The guys were talking sports and business and how their wives constantly nagged them. The girls were talking kids and carpools and how the guys never helped around the house.

About halfway through the dinner, Greg catches my gaze. We were too far from each other for the words to actually be spoken, but no matter. We were able to communicate with our eyes the way only longtime lovers can.

You're wishin' you were over here, aren't you? he asked.

I gave a barely perceptible nod of my head. I don't do half the stuff all these gals do.

He wiped his napkin across his mouth to hide his smile and winked. I know, love. Believe me, I know.

And though he affirmed that I do indeed come up short in the domestic end of things, the other message coming through loud and clear via that intense green gaze was: And I'd pick you again ten times over.

Yep. He's my Somekinda Wonderful.

So ... the moral of this series is: If the stories I tell about my husband make it appear like he has a rather warped sense of humor, please do not misunderstand, because he is truly some kinda wonderful.

posted by Deeanne at 10:02 AM

6 Comments:

Barb said...: Oh wow, sounds like the beginnings of a luv scene for the next novel! "As they gazed at each other across the room..." I'm surprised you let Mr Greg go out in public, considering what a sweet guy he seems to be. I don't recall my engineer father making up job charts, but he did make the birth announcements when his first child was born--moi--creating a blueprint of a baby with explanations of how it functioned. Pink and blue circles--that is too funny...
I just started Solomon Long at lunch and--only to p 26--I've been both traumatized and humored to the point of laffing out loud! Intriguing and fun at the same time.
(And I can't believe you deleted yourself just to see what it was like?! Wonder what the deeper psychological meaning of that is??)
Deeanne said...: I'm looking forward to our book discussion next week also.

I think the deleting thing was a power issue. I "had the pow-wah" and I wanted to try it out. Wasn't near as satisfying as I had expected it to be. ;-)
TS said...: So Dee,

I have to say with this some kinda wonderful -- as soon as I hear this phrase I think of Bad Company's late 70's song of the same tune. I used to sing that all the time. Is that where you got the phrase? Do you know that song?
Tina said...: So similar to what I wrote about my husband today. In fact, it earned you a tag. :)

Welcome to the world of blog tagging.

The response to my tag and the instructions are here:

http://www.tinakulesa.com/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=236
Valerie Comer said...: I've sometimes thought that the most enduring thing I would miss about my husband should he die, is that glance across a crowded room, that automatic *I know what you're thinking* grin. Yes, I'd miss plenty else, too ;) but that part of the bond seems very special to me.
Deeanne said...: Yes, Marv, I named the posts after that song. It's one of my favs.

Tagging. Golly. I'm learning new stuff all the time! That was fun, Tina, thanks.

I'm right there with you, Valerie.