When my husband and I were just in the early-dating stages of our relationship my older and wiser brother-in-law had this to say about courtship. "When you just start to date you are still in the peacock stages of your romance. Just wait until you've been married for a while and you realize that you thought you had bagged a peacock and instead it's a turkey." I shared this cute little birdy story with my then boyfriend and it only managed to stir up misgivings about 'us' even more for the poor guy. "What happened to just being honest about yourself!?" I am sure he was thinking what kind of tricks did we women pull on poor unsuspecting male victims?
Now that I am older and wiser myself I understand just what he meant by that. You put on your best face when you are trying to impress someone and then, at some point, you just can't hold in the gas anymore when you are around them all day long. My husband was seriously shocked when he found out that girls passed gas. I was also a bit taken aback when I discovered how much phlegm he had to hack up on a regular basis. "Dear, do you perhaps have a cold coming on?" Said I when he was hacking in the bathroom one evening (early on). "No, I do this every night"...... "Oh.... I see...." There are other unusual habits that I could dig up on both of us but you get the idea.
I find it a bit interesting that after being apart for 6 months, there is a re-occurring peacock/turkey phenomenon going on here. We will have been married 17 years this month, and the guy has seen me looking my worst on many occasions. But since his return I find myself not wanting to look bad in front of him. I put on lipstick when I know it's worn off. I brush my teeth extra. I hide the fact that I had a root beer float after lunch today while he was out. I act like I have been doing yoga every morning for 6 months. I am nicer to the kids in his presence. Weird! I feel like we are out on our first date in some respects. And WHO is this muscle man that has returned to me making me feel all thrilled and self conscious? I guess to avoid boredom he worked his tail off in the gym. He told me he had to return his gun at out processing, but I say he returned with 2 big guns that I don't recall him having before. (ha! I kill me!).
I am sure it won't take us too long to start picking noses, and yelling at the kids again. In the mean time I am sorta excited to be dating this handsome stranger! I hope it works out : ) Wish me luck!
11 comments:
What a great analogy! We are definitely in turkey mode.
I didn't know that girls could pass gas! That was a great post. I'm happy that you were able to go back to the good old days of trying to impress and make a good impression on your spouse. Maybe I should give that a shot. Congrats on his return. That must be great for your family to get their dad back.
This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.
Are your kids on their best behavior too?
The kids have been pretty good actually. But by no means perfect. Baby Girl has had the hardest adjustment. Today when he went in to do a bit of work she told us all he was in Iraq again. Poor confused child!
Two big guns! lol! That was a good one!
I love this post! It's so true! We are turkeys at our house!
you nailed it...and you are right..we do slip into "turkey" mode far to easy. we need to be "peacocks" all the time for those we love. keep up the good work and make him really happy he is home....no slipping back into old habits...
Maybe there's another bird in this analogy. Not that I can think of what it is at the moment, but it seems like what you're doing isn't so much peacock mode as readjusting mode in the nest. Hmm. Swallows mode? Canadian geese? Okay, I just need to stop.
Ha!
You kill me, too.
And don't pretend you don't do yoga every day. Or wear lipstick all the time.
I'm so glad you have him home!
Love the root beer float bit! Great post.
Yes, we all show our true colors eventually. I love reading you and your take on life. Thanks for blogging. It makes me happy :o)
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