Did you ever watch the show Mama’s Family? One episode has always stood out to me. Remember the one where they are robbed by the “Cleaning Bandit” and he turned the toilet tissue the “right” way where it’s running over the top of the roll? You probably don’t, but that stuck with me.
Why does it matter?
Fast forward many, many years to my marriage.
Jayson didn’t obsess over much. He was perfectly fine with throwing all his clean clothes in a pile on his side of the bed. He’d happily search through said pile daily for clean underwear and matching socks. He never complained (although it drove me nuts). This was totally normal to him.
When it came to the trash, he had the same motto as in college “he who maketh it topple over, taketh it out.” He quickly learned however, that the trash was “man’s work” because I refused to change the bag and he would gripe that I stuffed it too full. (I not so secretly did this to get back at him for the clothes.)
And then there were dishes. He maybe did the dishes 5-10 times in our entire 10 years of marriage. He wasn’t concerned with the state of the sink. There were more pressing matter’s to attend to such as swinging a golf club at nothing in the back yard.
You know, the important stuff….
Then, there was the ever present struggle of properly replacing the toilet paper. Now THAT got under his skin. He was an “over the top” guy and I am a “just replace the stupid thing” girl.
How we were married 10 whole years is beyond comprehension? But, somehow, we persevered.
If the roll ran out on his watch, he’d replace it the “correct” way. If it ran out on my watch, I’d replace it how it fell, he’d change it, then exclaim through the house “is it really that hard to put the toilet paper on the right way!?”
It was an ongoing struggle filled with internet memes, pictures, jokes and documentaries on properly replacing toilet paper. (Well, actually not that last one. But I did recieve many instructional lectures on the subject.) This was serious business to J. And well, I cared more about annoying him. It was just so much fun to watch him get so riled up over the state of his toilet paper.
Am I mean? Maybe. But it was fun.
I never understood why this direction of the toilet paper got him so worked up. Maybe it was because he spent so much time in the bathroom. Who knows. I do know, however, that I think about him every time I see a roll of toilet paper the “wrong” way and remember how much it irritated him when I purposely hung it that way.
Hope this post put a smile on your face and inspires you to be more playful in your relationships and less worried about the silly stuff!
Kelly