Don't Forget to Laugh

Before I get started, I want to take a moment to tell you about my book that will be out in the next few weeks.   It’s actually online already for a download ebook version.  I hope to have that link on my blog in the next few days.

If you don’t know, my book is about the story of how I almost divorced my husband – for another man.  God intervened and saved my marriage.  I’m sure there will be lots more to come about it in the future.  Check out my new website - www.sandeelester.com for more information.

Thanks for taking the time to read that brief commercial break.  I hope I don’t bore you too much with news of my book – I’m a bit excited about it.  I’ve waited a LONG time for this!  On with my article.

In case you haven’t noticed, men are very different creatures than women.  I know I’ve written about this a lot, but I’m continually reminded of this little tidbit.  I truly believe that one of the most important factors in a successful marriage is realizing this, never forgetting it, and learning how to deal with it.  Oh yeah, you’ve got to be able to laugh about it too!

First of all, I want to remind you that I’m at the stage of life where my hormones have kidnapped my body and my emotions.  I’m often at the complete mercy of these chemicals that ravage my mind, my feelings and everything I do. I can usually stay in control, though, except for occasional days where the pot boils over.

Having my husband around all summer is wonderful, I love it.  Then I have a day like Saturday.  Nothing was going right, and I had to stay clear of any weapons that could hurt someone.  And what did Rick do?  He asked me “What’s wrong honey?”

I told him I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t think I would be able to express myself rationally.  Of course, he pushed for an answer, and I exploded.  Fortunately, my explosions are now very brief and infrequent (not so in the past) and we quickly passed through it.

In the process of venting my frustrations over other issues I'd been dealing with, I voiced my thoughts about the television. (We tend to do that as women.  When we start complaining about one thing, we might as well add everything else that's bothering us.)  I can only take so much television during the day, none would be my preference.  I really don’t like the noise.  Rick is the complete opposite - the more television and the louder, the better.

At the end of my rant and ending with, “How can you sit there all day watching…nothing?”, he  gave me that deer-in-the-headlight look where he couldn’t come up with any logical, witty answer.  He didn’t say it, but I’m sure he was thinking, “Huh?”

We discussed our differences on this matter and came up with some reasonable compromises.  That’s what healthy marriage is all about.

And then we laughed.  We made fun of each other’s little idiosyncrasies and laughed hysterically. Laughter is the best medicine I know, especially for marriage - as long as your timing is right.