For The Want of A Nail...

I asked my husband if he would run down to the corner store to pick up a gallon of milk with a free coupon. As he was soon leaving to do some errands could he could run to the store and back for me? Perfect. He refused. Nevermind, I got dressed. On my way out, he remarked, was I going for milk? I said I had to since he wouldn't. Oh, man that was a match to gasoline. A fountain of anger to the words of: He was not my puppy dog. I could get off my lazy ass and go do it myself. It wasn’t like I was doing anything. I got the milk. Did it end there? No. A Facebook message waited for me.

"Thanx for once again screwing up a perfectly peaceful Sunday with your selfishness!

 All I did was ask my husband to run down to the store for a gallon of milk as many other wives do. For the want of a nail (or a gallon of milk)…He doesn’t see the butterfly effect in all these small encounters. His anger is destroying this marriage.

PS Here it is now hours later. He is done playing very important Facebook games and is stretched out to ‘watch’ a movie which translates into 'I am going to fall asleep'. What about those errands he was going to run? He’ll do them later.

If a Butterfly

The butterfly effect is the observation that an event as seemingly insignificant as the flapping of a butterfly's wings might create a huge storm in a distant place. It is sometimes applied to a small, almost imperceptible thing that can have a large and momentous consequence. The mayonnaise jar is a pivotal moment. His bursts of anger always leave me drained, gasping, and running for higher ground. The day will come when I keep running without looking back. 

Dr. John Gottman, a psychologist at the University of Washington, studied more than 2,000 married couples over two decades. He discovered patterns about how partners relate to each other which can be used to predict – with 91% accuracy – which marriages will succeed and which will fail. The four attitudes that most predict the dissolution of a relationship, especially in combination, are criticism, defensiveness, contempt and stonewalling. 

Before Jay Leno and David Letterman, the King of Late Night was Johnny Carson. He donned a turban and cloak and became Carnac the Magnificent. Ed McMahon would continue, 

"No one knows the contents of these envelopes, but you, in your divine and mystical way, will ascertain the answers to these questions having never seen them before. 

Carnac would hold a business size envelope to his forehead and give an answer. He’d then rip open the envelope and read the question. I can see him adding this to his routine.
Answer: Engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. Envelope ripping. Question: How is marriage like a three-ring circus?