It's already happening...

Last week, I was having a hard time at work, running on very little sleep (for me, anyway) and feeling the stress of my constant attempts to lose weight (which consistently go no where, and can be very frustrating/troublesome/tedious/etc, etc, etc...). So when Jesse didn't come home at his usual time on Thursday, and I wanted to go to bed since I needed to wake up at 5 on Friday to go workout, I sent him a text message to find out if he'd be home soon.

No response.

I waited 10 minutes, and called him at about 10:40. He was having a beer, he said. He was on his way out and would be home soon.

I have this thing about schedules...while I know that Jesse's isn't "normal" in any sense of the word, if he's going to be home later than usual, I'd expect him to let me know. Just call me quickly, or send a text if he has time. Not a big deal. It's what I do if I'm even running just 15 minutes late leaving the office, even though I know he probably couldn't care less if I get home at 5:35 instead of 5:20, like usual. I see it as a common courtesy kinda thing.

So as we laid in bed that night, we "discussed" the issue for a bit. I can tell when he feels like I'm being a harpy, nasty old thing, and I didn't like that my request for a bit of courtesy on his part was bringing out that kind of tone. After a while, we just agreed to continue the discussion the following night, since it was getting late, and we both had early mornings the next day. We squeezed each other's hands, wished each other a good sleep, and drifted off.

After work the next day, I stopped off at the Moose to meet him for a drink and sat with some friends while I waited for him to finish his day and join us. One of the friends said, "So, I hear you're getting a jump-start on your wifely duties, eh?" Obviously, Jesse had shared with the group prior to my arrival, and now I needed to deal with the fall-out. I know this friend was just giving me friendly jabs...he's been married before and it didn't turn out all that well, I suppose. I replied, "Oh, wait a minute...so one of the things I need to learn once I get married is to just forget about my expectations of any kind of common courtesy on my husband's part?" "Well, YEAH!" my friend said.

He's funny.

After further discussion at dinner, Jesse and I came to an amicable point on the issue, I think. I told him that, as always, I think it's fine for him to hang out when he's done with his shift, have drinks, talk with friends, and enjoy himself as much as he wants to. But just let me know when he's planning on doing that, so I don't sit up well past my bedtime waiting for him to relieve me of the puppy-watching duties and hoping to see him before I hit the sheets. Because, had I known that he was planning on sticking around for an hour after he finished on Thursday night, I would have popped the puppy in her kennel, and shut things down at about 10:00. But I didn't know. And so I sat up and wondered. (It also can be kind of a pain to put the puppy down at 10 if Jesse is planning on coming in at 11 or so, since it generally wakes her up, and gets her scratching at her crate door looking for attention from the other parent in her life...) And I hate it when that happens.

So it begins...the fun of people mocking us for being newlyweds, dealing with these little quirky things we still have yet to figure out about each other, and all that good stuff that's bound to happen over the next 3 or 4 or 20 years.

I'm up for it, though. Thank goodness I think Jesse is, too!