As Long As We Both Shall Laugh

I don’t know what the key to a successful marriage is, but I do know when I’m happy which is a pretty basic way to describe my current marital state, but it’s accurate.

What I have learned over the years (8 this year) of marital bliss, is that Andy and I function heavily with a good dose of laughter.  We laugh at each other (in a non-mean, but ‘come on you did not just do that! haha’ sort of way), we laugh at ourselves (like when I was pregnant and ran over the recycle box – the pregnancy has nothing to do with it really, I just like to throw some blame around), and we laugh when times get rough.

There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t laugh.  Sometimes, we laugh because of an inside joke, or something funny on YouTube that we *have* to show the other.

Laughter warms my heart, makes me even happier and filled with bliss.  I’m sure there’s some science behind laughter, and it is said that laughter is the best medicine.

This is mostly to segue into the story of one of the longest ongoing  jokes between Andy and I that I’ve decided to share with you.

The Story of the M & Ms. 

subtitled: Really, he should have known

So my son was only a couple months old at best.  I was settling in quite nicely into a new routine of full time, stay at home mom with a new born.  Breastfeeding had become easier, the house was rather tidy (mostly because I seemed to live in the kitchen or master bedroom as my ‘home base’) and I felt happy.

I napped when the baby napped and felt no guilt about it.

Most days, when he was getting ready for his afternoon nap, I would bring up some snacks and my water to get ready for a nursing session, followed by at least one of us sleeping.

He nuzzled in for his feed, and eventually dozed off (he was a longggg nurser and liked to fight sleep sometimes).

So, cuddling with a wee babe on my nursing pillow, I pulled out my giant bag of M & Ms that I brought up to the bed with me.  My intention: To enjoy bowl and save the rest for when Andy got home.

I started eating, flipping channels, reading (this was pre-smart phone days! Can you imagine? 😉 And I kept snacking.  You know ‘just 10 more’.

Now, let me say, this wasn’t a small bag but it wasn’t the Costco sized bag.  It was the kind you get when you want to share, or eat it over a number of days.

Anyway, I kept eating.  And did stop.  Stopping wasn’t the issue.   Ethics became the issue.  I had intended on saving half the bag to share.  But when I finally did stop, there was 1/3 – 1/4 of the bag left.  Do I save the small amount, clearly showing that I ate well more than my share? Or do I skip the sharing altogether?  It’s like a question in the game Scruples.

I ate the rest.

Don’t judge me, but I completely rationalized with myself that eating the rest would be the best solution – Andy wouldn’t need to know that I was a terrible sharer and I was enjoying my peanuty goodness.

I stuffed the empty bag into the pocket of the play pen.

Fast forward later that evening, when a little bit of yellow was peeking out of the pocket of the play pen and caught Andy’s eye.  Maybe he was grabbing a diaper, maybe he just happened to see it, but when he pulled out the large, empty yellow bag of M & Ms, I didn’t have to say a word.  I might as well have been a child with chocolate smudged on my face. He knew what happened.

The rest of the scene played out with me stammering excuses and laughing and him with a fake ‘how could you?’ look and laughing at my attempts to rationalize.

6 years later, you know that any time I don’t want to share, or insist he shares, he likes to bring up that empty yellow bag.

And we still laugh.

I hope the laughing never stops.