How things are

This week has, in a word, sucked. Oh, I know, this entire year has sucked, but this week sucked even compared to the rest, which is saying something. Tensions are running high and faith is being tested.

Today Otto got up before me and made coffee. I know this because I woke up to BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP, the international signal for “it is now safe to get out of bed and proceed directly to the largest mug in the house.” My darling, wonderful husband was in the shower by the time it beeped, and I all but ran into the kitchen.

And there I found a lake of coffee on the floor. The coffeemaker was in its usual spot on the counter, but the coffee POT was sitting on the edge of the sink. Otto had washed the pot, ground the beans, filled the basket, and then hit the switch without replacing the pot; eventually the filter basket overflowed and lo, the coffee streamed down the counter and onto the floor.

I beheld the tragic scene before me and burst into whoops of laughter, so loud that the dog came to see what my problem was. And then I went to tell my husband what he did. He kept trying to apologize, and between giggles I had to tell him that it was reassuring to know I’m not the only one falling apart.

Other people look at a gift of flowers or a particularly wonderful day with their spouse and know their relationship is built to last, and I mop up a giant coffee puddle and thank my lucky stars for one marvelous, barely-flawed Otto.

31 Comments

  1. Amy

    What a wonderful belated “Love Thursday” post!!

  2. Katie in MA

    I wouldn’t put it past that sneaky, barely-flawed, handsome husband o’ yours to have done that on purpose just to make you laugh. Glad your day started with great big bellyfulls of laughter. :)

  3. Karen R

    Did Licorice get into the act? A caffeinated Licorice? It is good to see you take your amusement where you can.

  4. Lisse

    I love that you reacted by laughing. It says a lot about you. And your resiliency.

  5. victoria

    Continueing Karen’s idea: yes, did you get to follow the dog’s coffee-paw prints all around the first floor of the house? ;)
    Otto tried….that’s all that’s necassary :)

  6. Mir

    I already emailed Karen to say the puddle had been untouched by the dog, surprisingly. I think she didn’t like the smell of it.

  7. Jean

    I love this post. You are so lucky to have each other. Keep swimming, Mir, keep swimming…..xxoo

  8. stephanie

    this made my day!!!

  9. Megan

    There just comes a point where laughing is the only way to go! Mine was on the worst day following the unfathomably worst month when, driving away from the little town I loved, the sun roof on my car suddenly went FWOOP and flew off and away. I roared with laughter – ROARED. And it felt so good.

    I tried it again the next morning when I woke up to a hotel room that looked like something from an 80’s horror movie (my neurotic dog had chewed his tail until it bled, then forgotten he was unhappy and strolled around the room all night, wagging enthusiastically). It wasn’t as good the second time somehow…

    Glad you had your moment of laughter!

  10. Rachel C.

    Smiling in the midst of tears this morning. THanks for sharing!

  11. amy

    Oh that’s just too funny :P

  12. Lucinda

    There’s a Hallmark card somewhere in this.

  13. Julie Marsh

    I love this. I bet it will come up as a source of laughter for years and years afterward.

  14. jodifur

    I love that that made you laugh. I probably would have yelled.

  15. meghann @ midgetinvasion

    Yeah, sounds like a “Money Pit” moment. You know the movie? When the tub falls through the floor and he just dies laughing. I had that moment last Friday when my computer broke, complete with sparks! All I could do at that point was laugh.

    Otto is in good company. I’m probably lucky my house didn’t burn down. I made coffee, and it took me a while to figure out the weird burnt coffee/electrical smell was because I hadn’t put any water in it.

  16. Frank

    Otto’s heart was in the right place, even if his pot was not.

    Er… now that I read that, I should add… COFFEE pot.

  17. Lynda M O

    Grace appears in many forms. Today she’s a puddle of coffee and a loving spouse. Lucky aren’t we ?~!

  18. Jean

    Love Otto!

  19. Kate in Michigan

    I agreed to have our across-the-street neighbor’s little girl over for a sleepover 2 nights ago (she’s my daughter’s bff) because neighbor had a colonoscopy that day.

    Then my brother went in to crazy surgery (aortas, carotids, heart valve) and his 8-hour surgery stretched into 17 hours.

    The girls were having a great time, then dropped a bottle of red nailpolish on the bathroom floor and it looked like the scene of a grisly murder. No sooner than I cleaned that up, then I went into the kitchen to find them making orange floats and rootbeer floats.
    And they promptly knocked a full glass onto the floor.

    And so on. I just had to laugh as the orange soda/ice cream dribbled down my leg, down the cabinet, down the trash can, on the floor, on the girls, and on the dogs.

  20. Kate

    Otto is a SAINT! I am not an Otto!!

  21. Mary

    Laughter is the best medicine! We’re having a not-so-great year here, too. While listening to my husband talking to his sister about their other sister trying to fly stand-by to visit the other brother on the other side of the country that had a stroke, I chuckled when he told her “but the tights are flight”.

    As the conversation continued, he told her about the “head case” coming in to talk to us while visiting his mother who is ALSO in rehab right now.

    Of course, when I told him that actually, the “flights were tight” and that was a “case worker” that came in to talk with us, we did have a few laughs at his expense!

  22. Leslie

    Oh, I have done this myself, sadly, more than once! My favorite scenario is to start the coffee, take the dog for a walk and return to a coffee waterfall cascading across my counter top and onto the floor. The best part is cleaning it out of the top drawer! Hang in there, Mir and Otto!

  23. Jeanie

    Sometimes you just gotta laugh. Otto is precious!

  24. Rocky Mountain Woman

    Yep. Been there. It means he’s right there with you worried to the point of absent mindedness. What a guy!

  25. Another Dawn

    Ha! Coffee puddle… isn’t that 10th anniversary?

  26. Cele

    Laughter is the best medicine. You are both very lucky

  27. karen

    It’s a beautiful thing….

  28. EG

    So sorry for the sucky week. Glad you got to the point of hysterical laughter. And that Otto is your soulmate.

  29. Stimey

    Laugh or cry, right?

    It’s good to have a solid partner to get through the shit with.

  30. stewcarol

    Been there, done that. Did you also have a junk drawer right below the coffee pot where you keep misc. papers, checkbooks, calendars, kids schedules that half the pot dripped into? That’s how we like to do it at our house. BUT, I will remember that you laughed and were thankful for that oopsie-daisy move. And I will do that next time (cause I know there will be one!) I’m sorry for all your trials Mir, they are way more than most could handle. Yet it does seem like you have a gift for handling and going on and making it one more day always. Just keep going, you are doing it! Thanks for your blog.

  31. Daisy

    I can’t claim to have done this, precisely, but I did baptize my kitchen floor with coffee grounds when I attempted to clean the grinder. Husband didn’t dare look in my direction until he heard me laugh.

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