A Simple Act

Well, I think it is time for a rehash of sorts.  At least that is what is occurring in my mind. Before we added this to our marriage I would be hard pressed to say I was a ready listener to my man's opinions or suggestions.  As he would tell it, "I did not have a voice," and now he does. I come from a long line of strong women and I do not believe I know many who eagerly await a decision from their husbands on any issue, let alone on something as simple as how to drive home.  

Now, I am an adult, I can figure out my way very easily from point a to point b in our hometown.  I rarely need instructions unless it is to clarify a new destination.  So, Sunday night when I was meeting a group of friends at a coffee house kind of thing I thought nothing of simply texting my friend to figure out the location and what time I was to be there.  My man was picking the kids up from a church event, so I was free to go and really no big deal.  I arrived and began chatting with one of my best friends of the group and everyone was giving me a very hard time about the decision of whether to order a hot chocolate or just have ice cream.  

Yes, I know, everyone else was having that coffee stuff, that smells so delish, but tastes horrid to me, but I was in deep internal debate.  The group has heard from my friend how she often brings me hot chocolate, while I tease her about consuming large amounts of coffee which has little to no effect on her.  I know some people sip on coffee for hours, but I can down a large hot chocolate from Starbucks in ten minutes flat.  Well, I have a love/hate relationship with caffeine.  It makes me the energizer bunny for hours, so having hot chocolate at 7 o'clock at night would have some undesirable consequences if I wanted to sleep anytime soon.  I usually avoid hot chocolate unless I'm freezing or know I'm going to need to be up for awhile, like say around ten hours.   So, though my husband does not regulate my caffeine intake I decided neither of us needed that kind of hyper to end our weekend.   On a side note, I do think my friend likes to see me buzzing around on hot chocolate because the conversations we have always end up with a great deal of laughter. Yup, the sillies can really take over and miss shy and reserved can talk a mean streak.  So I avoided a bit of trouble by having some strawberry cheesecake ice cream to settle my ego a bit from all the teasing I had incurred.   

Now, to the point of the story.  We ladies had a lovely evening out, giggling and talking about kids and our husbands and such, and at 9 went to my car to leave.  I called my man to tell him I was headed home and the route I planned to take.  Now, that may sound silly to some, but I was going to need to travel through an area of town that was not very safe to get to the highway that would take me home.  He said, "No, I want you to take....." and you know what I replied?  I simply said, "yes" and did exactly what he said. 

Sorry, thought this one was super cute! 

Not that any of you are old enough to remember rotary phones!

Which I know this is old hat to alot of you, and others of you are going, boring story.  Not so here.  I thought all the way home how much I had changed.  Trust me when I say this, in the past I may or may not have listened.  I would have thought going out of my way to take a different road would have seemed silly at best and would have gone on my own merry way as if he had not suggested it at all.  Rude, you say?  Disrespectful?  Yes, I agree, but my excuse would have been, "I am an adult" and "I can drive where I want, it'll be okay".  I would have done what I wanted.  So, I was impressed with my ability to just heed his word, trust him and know that his suggestion was to keep me safe.    

When I made it home and told him that I had done as he said he agreed that I had made progress.  I did not argue with him about the route or become annoyed that he would suggest it.  A simple thing really in the realm of things, but something I feel proud of and thankful for.  I told him how I would have reacted before and he nodded.  He knew how I would have responded and it easily could have been an arguement.  So, in a small way, I was able to gain a little ground towards the sweet side of life, by simply trusting my man.

--Baker