The D Word

Posted by Sarahbear on January 19, 2012

Tuesday was a really busy day. I got up, got the kids on the bus, and then got myself off to school. Chad’s working a heavier schedule with inventory coming up and my spring semester started, I’ve had less time to do things I need to do around the house. I’ve stayed mostly on top of the housework, but I really needed to go grocery shopping. On the way home from school, I asked my sister to sit at the house and be here when the kids got off the bus in case I didn’t get home in time. She had to work around that time, so I was really crunched for time.

I managed to squeeze my grocery shopping trip into 30 minutes of shopping and make it home and unload the groceries about 15 minutes later. Then the kids got home before I had the chance to put it all away, and plundered through everything between asking if they could have various things for their snack and shoving folders in my face for me to sign. I got them settled and started on their homework, then started putting things away.

While tackling the refrigerator, I remarked that Chad drove me nuts when he didn’t put condiments back on the door in the fridge, and put them on the shelves instead. I said that I had specifically condensed bottles of things that were open, thrown things we weren’t using out and organized it so everything would fit nicely, leaving plenty of room for fresh fruits and vegetables and for me to put leftovers after dinner.

Ethan said “Why don’t you guys just get a divorce?”

I straightened myself up from where I had been kneeling in the refrigerator and asked him to repeat himself. He did. I asked why in the world he thought we should get divorced. He said “Because you said you’re mad at him about the fridge.”

I calmly explained that I didn’t think people should get divorced because they got mad at each other every once in a while and that his father and I were rarely mad at each other. Even if I was griping about the ketchup not and Catalina dressing not being on the door, I wasn’t actually what I would call angry about it.  He asked what a good reason to get divorced was. So I told him that it should only be when you don’t love each other anymore, and that Chad and I love each other very much.

I told Chad about it later that night and he rolled his eyes. I hope that we can instill in our kids that marriage is very serious and relationships don’t have to end when one or both people get mad at each other. I hope that they can see how we handle our differences calmly.