12/26/24

 Paul and I had a “difference of opinion” on Christmas Day. I told him our porch was slippery. I was quickly dismissed to which he responded “it is not slippery.” After 25 years of marriage these are the things that can cause a stupid and meaningless argument.

Fast forward to today. As I am trying to chip away at the “not slippery” ice. I ended up slipping on the “not slippery” ice, causing me to crash and burn for all the neighborhood to see.

It felt like a slow motion fall. I hit on my left shoulder and left wrist. Luckily I did NOT hit my head. I said about $2.50 worth of swears, that I owed my swear jar afterward.

Penny was outside with me. She ran to my side to see if I was ok. Some random noise escaped my mouth that sounded like what I would imagine a wounded hippopotamus would sound like. I bellowed out some strange noise that Avery described as “I thought you were yelling at the dogs”. It echoed across the land.

Not that I am keeping score (BIG FAT LIE) but it turns out the porch was INDEED slippery! (Of course it was!)

My fingers almost caught fire from the incredible speed that I typed to Paul that I slipped on our porch. Mad and irrationally blaming Paul for not taking my suggestions for ways to solve it, each letter I typed was with force of 1000 men as I constructed a text. Again, what a stupid topic to be upset about.

When I shared I had fallen with Paul, his response was “it must have gotten worse since yesterday.” It was in fact the same amount of slippery. 

I was annoyed. Not really mad, just annoyed. I asked myself why? I was annoyed that I fell. I know it’s going to hurt tomorrow. 

I was more annoyed with the communication. 

Paul was up north snowmobiling. He gets the entire week off for his job. He was off with a friend having fun. He left the house early, before I got up. He slept on the couch so he wouldn’t wake me up when he left. He made coffee, let the dogs out, got the fire going and brought in wood, so I didn’t have to. All very thoughtful things that I so much appreciated.

I didn’t want to ruin his fun. That’s not fair. The nice thing about text is that it allows you to pause. I asked myself why”what is your intent?” My intent was to let him know that I didn’t like how dismissive he was at my comment regarding how slippery I perceived it to be.

“I would be less upset had you said, “yes, it feels a little slippery.” Or “if you feel like it is slippery, let me look at it.” See how that is different from "it is NOT SLIPPERY”.”

Fellas….when a woman that doesn’t ask for much, states that something is slippery, the correct response (even if you think she is being ridiculous) “let me check it out.” 

Communication is so funny. Paul luckily responded with “I am sorry, I am not sure why I said that.” Immediately it diffused the situation, and the annoyance released and went away. A little self reflection goes a long way. 

This ranks up there as one of the dumbest “differences of opinion.”

I am someone that likes to solve things and move on. My solution yesterday was to put salt down. Paul did NOT want to use salt as he was afraid it was going to corrode the porch. I respected his decision yesterday, but today he wasn’t home. I needed to solve the problem.

Today, I got out the salt and salted the porch. I would much rather have the porch broken than for MY body broken.

For fun, I went on and watched the video of me falling. Here are some fun pictures.

My shoulder and neck are a bit sore, but it’s to be expected. Nothing a little Tylenol can’t help with. 

I was on my way to Physical therapy when this happened. I was able to complete my physical therapy. We avoided exercises involving the left shoulder and wrist. 

My warning will be to everyone, be carful on the ice. Even the non-slippery ice is slippery.  And that is how the term “non-slippery” ice was born. I am certain it will be brought up for years to come. Ahhhhh marriage!

The bright-side, no one was seriously injured on the non-slippery ice. I am so thankful it was me that fell and not my Mom yesterday.