Not long after Karl and I got married, my sweet husband made a request. It was something to the effect of: “As my wife, I would really appreciate it if you would make sure that my jeans are ironed. I like them to have a crease.”
Honestly, I like to iron and that didn’t seem unreasonable. I did counter him by saying that I thought, in exchange, it would be terrific if he’d make sure my car always had a full gas tank since I hate pumping my own. Deal made. Everybody happy. Mostly, we’ve both held up our own ends of the bargain. Again, everybody happy. OR so I thought.
Oblivious to any problems, I was ironing his jeans and shirts not long ago when my sweet husband looked at me with a touch of a frown. “You do know, don’t you, that you always hang my shirts up wrong?”
Huh? Isn’t there only one way to hang shirts? Apparently not. With a bit more (bewildered) questioning and conversation, I ascertained that what I had been remiss with (for almost 42 years it seems!) was the direction his shirts are facing after I’ve ironed and hung them. I always face his shirts toward the left when they are hanging in the closet. With his patient redirection and correction, I now know that is wrong. Karl prefers that the buttons be on the right.
I’ll admit, since receiving that ‘talking to’, I’ve had to rehang several shirts to correct my errant ways. The thing that haunts me, though, is why it took him 41 years and 5 months to bring the subject up?
