Teamwork

If you and your partner have a system in place that runs like clockwork when one or your kids vomit, is that a good thing or does it mean that your children are awfully unhealthy? I’m not sure but both boys were sick again and Mad Dog and I divided and conquered the mess and emotional suffering of their illness with elemental proficiency.

Before this all happened, I had taken the boys to their Saturday morning Tae Kwon Do class. Normally on a Saturday we all attend as a family. Instead, Mad Dog was going to stay behind to wait for a service call that would hopefully fix a damaged corner on T.Puzzle’s new bed.

To complicate matters (as we wives tend to do on days our husbands are home) that morning I had given Mad Dog an ultimatum of sorts. In a marriage there are always going to be sticking points. Ours happens to be our Christmas tree. I won’t go into details but as of January 23rd, our lovely tree (which I had stripped of decorations weeks ago) was still standing in our living room.

I simply told him I had a date in my head. I wasn’t going to share the date but if he did not have that tree down by this date, I was either going to set it (or him) on fire (or something like that).

Lo and behold, when I return home with the boys the tree is down and the bed is fixed. I asked Mad Dog if he asked the service guys to lend a hand with the tree (it is huge and believe me, it takes a village). He is a marvelous politician. He will neither confirm or deny anything.

Turns out it was a good thing the tree was down because Mad Dog and I needed to have complete solidarity as our boys headed into their new bout of vomiting illness. If you don’t have teamwork within a marriage, all you are left with are year-round Christmas trees and a mess that can’t be cleaned.