December 11, 2007 | Ottomatic For the People
Last night as Otto and I lay in bed talking, I knew today would be a special day. What I did NOT know, at that point, was that it would start with me finding a small waterfall underneath my sink. That was… rather more special than I had anticipated. (And by “more special” I mean “especially sucktastic.”) Nevertheless, that faucet has leaked (the actual faucet part, not the pipes) ever since we moved in, and I have been ignoring it, and I guess at some point last night it just snapped and went all Glenn Close on me (”I’m not going to be IGNORED, MIR!”) and this is what I deserve.
Yes. I deserve soggy spare toiletry items under the sink, because I am cold and unfeeling and all of that.
Anyway, that’s not actually what I wanted to tell you about. What I wanted to tell you—and let’s just pause for a second here, while I put on my most blissful, sappy face—is that Otto and I have been married for seven months today!
I don’t really talk about my first marriage here, anymore, partly because my ex reads me religiously (which, really, is SO INTERESTING, because when we were still married, he never read my writing at all, GO FIGURE)—and I would like to say that I refrain out of respect for him, but let’s just be honest, here, and admit that it’s more a matter of having a couple of times fielded the sputtering indignation that presented itself upon having dared to mention him in anything other than a glowing light—and partly because it’s a subject that grows tiresome. There’s only so much humor that can be wrung from “we were young and stupid and mostly miserable,” you know?
But last night as Otto and I were chatting about nothing particular, I remembered that today would mark seven months, and I mentioned it, and for a moment we lay snuggled up there in the dark, contemplating the awesomeness that is our relationship.
“It’s just,” I said, after a moment, because if anyone can ruin a fabulous silent moment, THAT’D BE ME, “everything was SO HARD in my first marriage. The first year was AWFUL. And I thought it was like that for everyone, that it was just such a big adjustment that it was necessarily terrible, and my job was to suck it up and deal.” Otto reached his arm further around me and rubbed my back a little. “And this,” I continued, “it’s just SO DIFFERENT. I mean, I thought this first year would be really difficult, with all the changes, and the moving and everything. I expected it to be nearly as hard. And there’ve been issues, I guess, but on the whole it’s been so incredibly EASY! I mean, it hasn’t been awful. It’s been great!”
“Yeah,” said Otto, softly, after a moment. “But… you do know that every night I go lay over there—” he pointed to the very edge of the bed “—and cry myself to sleep, right?”
There was a VERY. LONG. PAUSE.
After which I lovingly gave my loving husband an extremely loving SHOVE for being such a smartass.
We laughed and laughed, and as we resettled ourselves back into our snuggle I moved my face up to Otto’s and gave him a lingering kiss. “You do realize,” I whispered, in my best husky voice, “that I am totally blogging that tomorrow morning?”
“I’ve come to expect it,” he replied.
Happy seven months, Baby! We totally deserve each other. (I’m not sure what that says about us, actually, but let’s just go with it.)
December 11th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Happy 7 Month Anniversary!
I know exactly what you mean - the night and day difference between first and second marriage. age and wisdom? or just finding the right person. either way, if I didn’t already have the perfect-for-me guy, I’d be crushin’ all over Otto.
and, really, nobody deserves wet toiletries. that is just too cruel.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Happy 7 month mark.
Let’s see… first year is paper, second is cotton, third is leather… 7 month must be either water or pvc (in pipe form natch).
December 11th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Awww! Happy 7 month anniversary! Although I don’t think I’ve said anything like that since high school.
Good luck with the faucet.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:02 am
I realize that things seldom come to those who deserve them most, but you do and it sounds like they have. That’s a wonderful thing to know as we come to the end of the year - that good things CAN happen to good people (yeah I know, but it’s actually true….)
December 11th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Aww. Congrats on seven blissful months. I’m so happy for you. Too bad about the leak — I hope it doesn’t ruin your day.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Waterworks going on today, both here and there. That was such a sweet *sniff* story, I can’t help it. : )
December 11th, 2007 at 10:07 am
You guys are so cute.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:08 am
He’ll definately be crying himself to sleep after he gets the bill for fixing the leak. All things plumbing-related are worthy of many, many tears.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:17 am
You lucky duck.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:51 am
“I’ve come to expect it.”
That sounds like a man you could ‘tie onto’ - as Marilla Cuthbert would say. . . . or was it her busy-body neighbor down the street? Forgot now.
I like the sound of your Otto. Happy month-iversary!
December 11th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Sigh. I remember when hubs and I used to keep track of the months. Now we just look at each other and ask confusedly: Was it our wedding anniversary last month?
December 11th, 2007 at 11:19 am
You know you’re really in love when both your husband AND your pipes weep for joy.
Or weep for whatever. You know.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Awww… happy heptamonthiversary!
December 11th, 2007 at 11:26 am
CRAP! We have our 23rd anniversary in a few weeks and I so far have nothing but my recently returned self to offer. Gawd. I’d better get cracking. Thanks for the reminder.
and Happy 7th Month Anniversary. If anyone deserves a happy 2nd marriage, it is you. congrats.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Happy 7 months! You guys are so cute!
December 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Happy anniverseven!
I think your pipes heard you talking last night and commenced to crying with the sweetness of it all. Perhaps you could try out the dialog on the plumber and he’ll give you a break on the cost.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Happy seven months! May the next seven months be even better!
December 11th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Congrats! Thats wonderful…my five years sure has had its ups and downs, with a good amount of downs, but its been not horrible and kinda fun. So I’m really glad that you’re getting a taste of the good this time around. Even if your husband is crying himself to sleep every night while you crack the whip on him.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Seven is heaven! Congrats!
My husband and I will be married fifteen years this year and we still have silly conversations in bed that end in uproarious laughter.
Here’s to many, many years of love and laughter.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Love Otto’s sense of humor! (and yours of course)
Happy Happy!
December 11th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Very sweet! (you’re part, not Otto’s… his deserved the shove!)
Yesterday I was married to my husband for 27 months.
My first marriage lasted just a few weeks shy of 24 months.
New record!! Woot!!
December 11th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Congrats! Otto can get a dainty hanky to wipe away those tears.
December 11th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Okay, you’re leaving us in way too much suspense here over the state of your breast health. What happened when you had your ultrasound on Monday?
December 11th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
SEVEN MONTHS? Already? I must be having fun here or something…and it sounds like you are, too. Congratulations!
December 11th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Congratulations! Seventh monthiversary!
December 11th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Congratulations, Mir & Otto!
I have always argued the theory that marriage is supposed to be “work.” Sure, it’s supposed to take some thoughtfulness and consideration — of course! — but WORK? (Which, at least for me, has a negative connotation?) Not so much.
I had the difficult first marriage, too, and after 9 years in marriage #2, I can honestly say we haven’t really “worked” at anything that much. It just WORKS!
December 11th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Congrats on the 7th mark
December 11th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I don’t know if my ex reads my blog. Now you have me all paranoid. Yikes!
December 12th, 2007 at 1:38 am
You two are adorable. And just think if it wasn’t for those tester marriages, we’d never know how great the good ones truly are.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:15 am
[...] This is, of course, why the bathroom pipes staged a coup; because it’s a truism that you never find yourself in the middle of an unexpected home repair when you have some extra money lying around. It’s as if the appliances sense that you’re low on cash, and suddenly BOOM! everything breaks. I have been stopping on every trip through the kitchen to whisper sweet nothings to the washer and dryer, so great is my fear at this point. [...]