two pounds of bullnose sweet peppers
½ lb cheddar cheese
½ lb deboned chicken
flour
salt
celery and other preferred seasonings…
… it’s 10 pm and the wife is asleep having pulled a 36-hour shift. I lie besides her trying not to move while life slowly departs the arm upon which her head rests. The mosquitoes have conducted several forays upon my person but I know those were only scouting expeditions. To shift would mean waking her, something I’m loathe to do, so I return to my meditation …
…
Nothing happens. Marriage has changed me in ways my parents, boarding school and the military failed to do. I’ve never thought of myself as a nice person. I’m now an efficient, considerate, observant crewmember of the human race. I’m not unhappy.
season and salt meat before adding flour to create patty
slice off top of peppers and scoop out seeds
I told a friend I didn’t enter marriage with any conscious expectations. I was right. We were together for nine years before the day she wed me and I had told myself it was just a change in living arrangements. The truth, as they say, is never that simple.
wash peppers with warm water then stuff with patty
half pan with water and place in oven
set low
I try to be her god of small things. Make her tea. Peel vegetables. Learn to cook. Clip her nails. Smile and kiss her for no reason. Curb my natural impatience. Make plans to go to church. Rub her feet.
bake for 25 minutes
grate cheese and sprinkle on concoction
bite in with gusto!
Red wine an excellent option.
very commendable.
i fall way short of your efforts. perhaps its time for me to begin anew.
and i probably have more reasons to put in a much greater effort into it than i current am…….
Stop making marriage sound good…
And you cook too! I know you do laundry too from your previous, previous blog! Keep at it – not just for the honeymoon first seven years…
Aaaww you encourage those of us at the verge. I guess it helps when the effort is appreciated. Am happy and proud of you.
Seriously, you’re married or is this fiction? I missed the wedding [on the blog].
If this is true, I wish you and yours all the best, and may you talk, talk, talk for all times.
I figure marriage is all about compromise and communication [which means listening and not re-interpreting what's been said].
GG, I am married and we talk.
Very good writing! Now this is a side of him I’ve never seen, nevertheless, the stoic young man I’ve come to know never fails to surprise me. Goodluck on your marriage. Continue to treat your wife like she’s the queen you have known for years and will always be. I feel the love between you guys.