I looked at my watch.
It’s only 11:00 am. I should give him more time.
That’s what I said to myself. Instead of sending my husband a text straight away to remind him to pay our rent, I was going to wait. I wanted to give him the opportunity to remember. To have the time. To get to it. He was home with our three daughters, all eight years old and under. Plus, a new puppy. Who wasn’t potty trained yet. Not the kids, mind you, but the puppy. The three year old had finally conceded to commode use. The dog, though, was a different story.
So, anyway, he was preoccupied. He was busy. He had a full plate, like me, and I needed to give him the opportunity to do what I had asked him to do for me today. He deserved the time. He deserved his wife not to nag at him. So, I wouldn’t.
I looked at my watch. 2:00 pm. I had checked the online banking, and I hadn’t seen it pop up yet. So, he hadn’t paid it yet.
They probably haven’t even finished school yet, Brie!
That’s what the logical part of my brain chided. It’s the part that told me to relax. But it was the other part that tended to speak louder. It was the part that worried about stuff. Even stuff that didn’t need worrying about.
Give him a bit more time, my chillax brain said.
So, I did.
3:00 pm. Crickets.
So, maybe I’ll just text him and ask how his day is going.
He was still finishing school! I told you. Sigh.
I waited a record-breaking five minutes after my customary wellness check-in, and then I could stand it no longer.
I used a kissie-face emoji, you know? To let him know I was kindly reminding the love of my life in a loving, non-nagging way. Yeah, that’s it. It wasn’t nagging! But yep, I knew it was nagging. I hoped he’d focus more on the kissie heart and less on the nagging part.
He had replied back his acknowledgment with a winky-face emoji, which if you don’t speak emoji means, “you’re nagging me, I realize it, and I’m okay with it.” Whew.
This is where I use the emoji with sweat on its brow, smiling. ? It’s not that I worried about getting him mad. It was simply a matter of respect. I loved him, I respected him, and I didn’t want to nag him or make him feel like a child. Thankfully, he knew this.
The thing about a marriage partnership is that each spouse has their specific strengths and weaknesses. He was an amazing man who kept me steady. I was a great gal who kept him directed. He knew my heart, and I knew his. Sometimes I worried too much. Sometimes he worried too little to my whirling brain. Somewhere in the middle we met and made it work beautifully. We blended, I guess you could say. Perhaps that was the whole point of the “one flesh” thing.
He didn’t mind an occasional “nagging” any more than I minded the fact that I sometimes needed to. I didn’t see a man who forgot something on my “honey-do” list. I saw a man who did so much for our family everyday. He didn’t see a nagging wife. He saw a woman who reminded him of things from time to time. It was my way. And he had his way. And together it made a wonderful way.