I do fondue

When Beloved is on travel, we often experiment. He and Jones are meat-and potatoes men, but Jones is out-voted when Dad is away.

Tonight, we had gorgonzola fondue, which I bought in bulk from the Harry & David's outlet on the way to pick up the kids from camp. Fondue seems not to have been a big seller for H & D, judging from the big tower of the stuff. More for me, then.

Too Much Information

I was opining aloud to My Best Beloved that Girl was at that point where she needed a proper bra when I thought, is this one of those marital TMI moments best kept to myself?

My Darling has no dog in that fight, as the gender roles are rather rigid in this particular domain. The integrity and maintenance of Girl's business is ceded entirely to me and likewise My Sweet owns the controlling interest in Jones's.

However, if this arrangement is demure, well, that is sheer coincidence. I cannot say it is because we're so very classy. Not as much as Jones delights in working the word "booty" into every conversation. (Also, dam. He'll pretend he's a beaver so he can say he's building a dam. Or he'll sing "We all go down to Amsterdam. Amster, Amster dam-dam-dam.")

No, our arrangement owes nothing to diffidence and everything to the birth order of the parents. My Love and are both reeeaally bossy. It's just a good thing for our union that we have one of each.

So, it occurred to me that Light-of-my-life might appreciate an accounting of my stewardship, but what's the rule?

I mean, when I came of age, my mother reported the news to my father, who, being the more ceremonious parent, made several awkward gestures at celebrating the event. Y'know what? Probably doesn't need to be a beautiful bonding moment with your father, actually. (Especially as, once, when I was laid up with cramps, my sire consoled me with the wisdom that all of this could have been avoided if Eve hadn't sinned in the garden. Yeah, thanks for that.)

I think that I probably need to hold back. As much as I have to fight the tendency to treat my daughter like a girlfriend, I should probably also fight the tendency to treat my husband like a girlfriend. But, Dear Reader, I can still blab to you, can't I?

Be Monkeypenny for me

It seems that in Phoenix large stretches of road are closed more frequently and abruptly than anywhere else. And, as I am relatively new to the area and to city driving generally, this usually throws me for a loop. Just today I was taking a carload of kids to a museum when I was re-routed out of my depth. I managed to right my ship, but still had to call My Beloved for back-up, just to be sure.

In our house, this is called monkeypennying, so-called for MonkeyPenny, the voice of reason down at HQ for Spy Fox, the kid-friendly, all-animal send-up of "Get Smart".

It is one of the great perks of married life to have my own personal MonkeyPenny.

Dirty Jobs

Around Christmas, belle-mere had what we’ve decided is a spider bite on her side that got all infected and gross. I won’t go into the details, but suffice it to say that, once the doctor had gotten all up in there and done what she could, there was some daily maintenance to be done. As it was the holidays, there were some options for getting that maintenance that were a lot less available. So it fell to us.

Now, as medical indignities go, this was not a big deal. But it was a useful trial run, as I learned a few things.

1) My beloved will fink out of these things if you let him.
2) I let him.

So there it is. These things are on me. OK, noted.

Now, Beloved and I are not scorekeepers. We really aren’t. And neither of us is too precious to do the dirty jobs of this world. It’s not that.

But the earth just shifted a little in terms of my responsibility
Or, to put it another way, my credibility,
Or, to put it another way, my AUTHORITY (yeek) vis-a-vis my beloved in belle-mere matters. All fun and games now, but in the future…

Which is why I am very glad that I learned one last thing.

3) Belle-mere is a perfect patient.

She’s very frank and matter-of-fact. She doesn’t catastrophize, but she reads up. She’s not afraid to ask for what she needs. She faces these things with good humor.