Y’know that joke about what they call the person who graduates last in their med school class? (A doctor.)
This is the Hubby and Snakelady version.
I’ve been irritable lately. Really, uncomfortably, irritable. I hide it well at work. Because I have to. But it seeps out at home and Hubby is the unfortunate sufferer of my bad moods. Below is a recent exchange between us as we navigate this crappy period.
Hubby: “Mumble, mumble, indistinguishable mumbling”
Snakelady: brushing my teeth while his shower radio blares behind me and Hubby listens to it as he dresses in the other room: “I can’t hear a word you’re saying” (grumbling and spitting out toothpaste, frustrated he’s trying to have a conversation at this particularly inopportune moment).
Hubby: “Well, I see someone went to charm school this morning” (but with a smile in his voice, because Hubby is good with people, and he’s good with me.)
Snakelady: Turning off the water. Turning off the blaring radio: “Hey, dude, do you know what they call the woman who graduates last from her charm school class?”
Hubby: Genuinely interested: “No, what?”
Snakelady: Voice raised in a triumphant faux-shriek: “A fucking DEBUTANTE!”
Hubby comes to the bathroom door jamb and leans in. Laughs: “Good one.”
This Is Us.