MEN ARE DIFFERENT

My husband can tell me in endless detail every stroke each of his buddies hit on a round of golf two years ago. And he does. I've learned to listen with that "yes, dear" look. You know what I mean. A smile is frozen on my face and I periodically nod and murmur "really" or "amazing". All the while I'm thinking about the grocery list, future vacation plans or what I'm going to fix for dinner tonight. Of course, he can't go to the grocery store to get three items without a written list. My daughter calls it testosterone poisoning.

Don't act shocked. Men have perfected this "absent presence", I've just acquired it through training. My husband has denied ever being told that one of our children was thinking of changing jobs, that I was concerned about the state of the tires on my car or that I had no intentions of using my vacation days to visit his mother. After all these years of marriage I know that we inherently think differently than each other and accept this fact as the way, together, we make a complete unit. He thinks about what he considers important and I do the same and between us both we almost cover everything important to our family unit. Sometimes the part not covered is significant, other times it doesn't matter.

Still I am occasionally surprised by unexpected differences. Tools are a new revelation. My husband has never been Mr. Fix-it. I sort of knew this when we got married but I always figured I was marrying the most wonderful man in the world and I could always hire someone to fix what needed to be fixed. Little did I realize how much these fixers charge. So it comes as a bit of surprise to me this latent tool accumulation syndrome that my husband is developing. He has always had to have the latest golf clubs, but power tools are new phenomena.

I was working in the "natural area" – that's the bulk of our front yard where we are unable to grow grass – last weekend. We have an outcropping of green onions that I had decided to eradicate. My trowel was inefficient so I asked him to go to Lowes to get me a hand tool to dig out the bulbs so I wouldn't also dig up the hostas. I had this in mind.

He bought this. The difference in price is about $24.00. I should have known better; I should have gone myself to get what I wanted. But I made it work and got up most of the onions. The next time I'm at Lowes, I'll pick up what I wanted to start with.

The difference is mostly nice. He thinks about grass and trees and shrubs that need pruning. I think that God put those trees there and will take them down when He sees fit. He can figure out when we need to buy a new car and what we should buy. As long as it runs and I can par it I don't have any interest in this topic. He can't figure out that if you put the largest items on the bottom that you can stack more pots or bowls in the cabinets. I think if we use less salt and butter our health might be better in later years. Each of us has our own particular area to be a specialist and over the years we've worked it out. So I'm not complaining. I still think I married the most wonderful man in the world. I say vive la difference!