Different Strokes

Mood: freakin cold!
Listening To: my daughter playing a video game

I was laying in bed this morning dreading getting up when I noticed that my husband had gotten up early today. Now, for my husband, this is almost akin to a miracle - getting out of bed early is just not something he will do. Anyhow, I was thrilled. Perhaps he would get out the door on time this morning and drop my eldest daughter at preschool on time. 45 minutes later, he and my daughter ran out the door, late again. Now really, this is his problem because he has to bring her in and face her preschool teacher as to why she is late. He then has to catch his bus, and I don’t drive him if he’s late and misses it. As someone who has mastered the 10 minute shower, I really have had a hard time accepting that I married someone who spends SO much time in the bathroom. That combined with a horrible sense of time. I was thinking that my husband is modeled a little like the chaos theory. It doesn’t really matter when he wakes up after a certain critical time. He will not get done any earlier, he will simply expand his routine to fit the time available. I suppose I am similar. I usually manage to find more cleaning or housework to do if I have more time. I’m not even sure why it bugs me so much that my husband is rarely, if ever, on time. I guess it’s because I’m such a stickler for being on time. I plan down to the minute to ensure that we arrive on time. My husband, however, was raised on “Indian Standard Time.” Indian standard time is much more relative. People do not arrive on time and you will piss off the host if you show up at someone’s house on time. A half hour – 45 minutes late is considered just fine. While he’s usually not that late here, the philosophy remains.
Becky

Shouting in a Whisper

Listening to: Steve Irwin prattle
Mood: Calm

Hubby and I took the kids to visit his sister and her family last weekend. They went to India for a month, so my 4 year old had been craving some time with her favorite (and indeed, only) cousins. The weekend was nice, but a bit stressful. My youngest had colic one of the days, and 2 adults sharing a double bed with a 4 year old means not much sleep for anyone. While we were relaxing on Sunday morning, my sister in law and her husband started bickering in the kitchen while they were making lunch. Nothing too important, it was mostly about a comment her husband’s brother had made while they were in India. The argument quickly deteriorated into a personal issue. No one was shouting, it was all said in a very civil, quiet manner. Unfortunately, my husband and I were sitting in the next room and couldn’t help but hear the conversation. They live in an apartment and there really isn’t much privacy anywhere. It was more than a little awkward for us. We ended up turning on some music so we wouldn’t have to listen to them and give a modicum of privacy for them to work out a truce. I don't mean to rag on my sister in law at all. All married couples have hot issues that they argue about. My problem was that it was embarrasing to listen to.

I know it’s just me, but I find it much more unnerving when people argue in a quiet, civil manner, but their words are heated. Especially in front of other people. In my house, we were taught that you never, ever, air your dirty laundry in front of anyone outside your immediate family. My husband, on the other hand, was raised in India. Working out your differences in front of family is not only okay, family can include anyone from your parents to your 5th or so cousins, as long as you aren’t shouting. My parent’s never got caught yelling at each other, even in front of my brother and me. I’m not sure if they even did yell at each other after I got old enough to notice. A lot of sarcasm and spoken arguments, but no yelling.

My history, along with this particular incident, lead me to start thinking about marriage and how and when married people argue. My parents divorced when I was 13. It was a ridiculously painful and unnecessary situation for me. My husband’s parents are still together, but that’s the way of their generation in India. You just don’t get divorced without an earth shattering reason. As a result of my parent’s fighting style, I feel that I didn’t learn how to disagree with another adult, let alone a spouse, in a constructive manner. In fact, I actually get a panicky feeling when I hear people arguing quietly.

When I got married, this was one of my biggest concerns – that my husband and I would not find a way to disagree without either screaming at each other, being passive aggressive, or ignoring issues until they get break us apart. I’m sure pretty much everyone can agree that how a couple argues determines whether or not they will be able to stay together. In American, most of us have little to no pressure to make an unhappy marriage work. We even have the concept of “starter marriages.” After going through my parent’s divorce, I was determined that I would make a wise choice of who to marry and then make damn sure I tried my best to make it last. My husband is old school and doesn’t believe in frivolous divorce, so we’re pretty well matched in that respect.

So how is the best way to argue? I found myself really pondering this question. I don’t think it’s a simple, flip answer that works for everyone, like the ones you read in magazines. My husband and I don’t really fight much. We’re both pretty easy going people. We try and avoid arguments that aren’t really that important to us as a couple, like what’s for dinner. I can definitely identify behaviors that I don’t want, but I have a really hard time identifying what methods I do want when we disagree. My husband and I will have been married for 5 years in April. We’ve pretty much hammered out a method for disagreement that works for us. Whether or not it will work for us in the long run and help us stay together is yet to be seen. How do you argue? Does it work?

Becky

Division of Labor

Listening to: Estranged by Guns N Roses
Mood: Content

As I mentioned previously, my husband and I have a 4 year old daughter. She will be going into Kindergarten next year. In White Plains, we have a crazy, cool thing called the parent’s choice plan. There are 5 elementary schools in White Plains and you get to pick which one you want to send your child to. Well, 93% get their first choice anyhow. The district has set up tours of all of the schools so that you can make an informed choice. All of the schools follow the mandated state curriculum, so it’s more about the atmosphere of the school than anything else. Unfortunately, kids aren’t allowed on these tours as they occur during school hours and they would be too big of a distraction. My 4 year old currently goes to preschool, so I don’t have to worry about her during this time, but my 6 week old is another story. So far, hubby has been babysitting out youngest daughter while I go on these tours. It’s absolutely fantastic to have a partner who’s willing to help out with these things – I don’t know how I’d get them done otherwise. My hat is truly off to single parents who have to deal with all these difficult things on their own.

Becky

Negotiation

I’ve been married for almost 5 years now. I’ve been with my husband for 7.5 years. It’s a fair assessment to say that we have had our share of negotiating. All marriages do. Well, the ones that last beyond the honeymoon phase anyhow. We’ve hammered out everything from who’s underwear goes where in the dresser to how often we visit the in-laws. We have entered a new stage of negotiation. We had our second daughter 6 weeks ago and negotiation has become a new art at our house. We also have a 4 year old. I don’t talk too much about our daughters in this blog – I have a separate one for that. They only come into the picture when they affect my relationship with my husband. As I was saying, learning to negotiate with terrorists (i.e. my daughters) has reached a new art form around here. Hubby and I have had to have an intensive session regarding how we negotiate and what we are negotiating with. Which required a lot of negotiating between him and I. Oh the irony. We have also had to develop a new system for chores and household duties. I.e. Which do you want – the screaming baby or the whining preschooler? Right now we have a good thing going on. We’re not outnumbered. There are two of us, and there are two needy kids. I shudder to think how it will be when we have our next child. I have a sneaky feeling that there won’t be much negotiation – just my husband and I being taken hostage.
Becky

Wecome!

Hi,
You've landed up at my ball and chain blog. If you haven't already guessed, this is a blog about being married and all the fun that comes along with it.

I've been blogging on Yahoo 360 for 2 years now and decided to move to blogger to organize my thoughts better. If you'd like to check out my previous writing or more about me, see: http://360.yahoo.com/profile-h6VVLvEjfKeRs37GCw2TsX6YAeY-?cq=1I
If you like my writing style, be sure to check out my other blogs in my profile.

I'm 26. I live in White Plains NY, which is about an hour north of NYC. I love living here. I'm married to a fantastic guy from India and we have 2 kids. I have a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. I'm not working right now. I have chosen to stay home for a year with my youngest child and am 1 month into that.

I absolutely love to write. I find it a fantastic medium for communication and reflection. I also like to read nonfiction, cross stitch, run, be outside, cook, eat what I cook, and play with my kids.

I'm a big fan of letting people have and express their own opinions. All my writings are just that - my own opinions. I have no qualms about making fun of myself in the process - it's one of the few unrestricted joys in life. That being said, I welcome comments and thoughts from anyone on what I've written. However, I would ask that you be kind and remember that these are my thoughts. Logical arguments with something I've said - fantastic. Name calling or undefended scorn - not so much.Thanks for stopping by. I hope I can bring some occasional sunshine to your own marriage institution
Becky.