21 November 2009

Why Marriage Is Work

The intake vent to the furnace is in the living room, ten feet up the wall. The cover has to be taken down at least yearly, the dust visible to anyone who studies it. Eight screws hold it in place. Taking it down and putting it back up is a bit dangerous and a pain in the kazoo.
I took it down yesterday. She cleaned it, then decided it was showing too much wear and tear, so she painted it. This afternoon, re-installing it, I had seven of the eight screws in place when she looked up and said, " The vent openings have to point down."
I responded, "No, if the vents point down, you'll be able to look into this hole from the living room."
"No, the vents HAVE to point down or the dust will fall into the intake and we'll have to clean it more quickly."


Seven screws back out, I turned the vent 180 degrees and started to re-install it. I had three screws started when she said, "WAIT! Were the vents up when you first took it down? 'Cause that's really ugly!"

Sigh.

3 comments:

CJ said...

Well, you know, you could also have called this one "Why Marriages Work"... understanding husbands play a huge part.

cjh

Greybeard said...

Yeah, I thought about that CJ. And then I thought, "No, if I'm goin' that direction the title should be-
'How marriages work.' "
And from there my mind went on to the next conclusion to-
"Why some marriages DON'T work".

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. I successfully ruined one marriage, but from that I learned that to keep from ruining another I have to step back and see the humor in stuff like this.
(And making lemonade from lemons, what I need to do is make notes about this sort of thing for that future compilation of short stories!)

CnC said...

I feel your pain GB, just finished with a 3 week remodel of our early 60's era bathroom, totally gutted down to the studs, the damn bathroom looked fine to me the way it was. 4 grand and 3 weeks later now it's on to the bedrooms for new doors, trim and paintjob. I just want to come home from work and crash out on the couch. I guess being on my 3rd marriage I have finally learned to compromise, I just so what ever the hell she wants me to!