I didn’t think I sounded bossy. In fact, I was pretty tootin sure I was being reasonable and just pointing out something overlooked.
Last night at the dinner table as my husband was placing the casserole down, I asked a simple question.
“Did you see the pot of rice on the stove?”
It was his response that rocked me.
“I only have so many hands.”
I immediately (a very dangerous speed for me) asked, “Did I just sound demanding?”
And if he didn’t have the nerve to tell me the truth.
“Yes, you did…”
I went silent. I submerged. I avoided all eye contact. I thought I was being so mature. Most ironic was a conversation I had had in the morning with a friend about how I welcomed tough conversations… ugh..
I politely engaged in conversation with the remaining Gunthers at the table… all was well until one of my sons went to get another dish from the kitchen. As he was placing the dish down on the dinner table, I asked a simple question.
“Can you get the butter for that?”
His response knocked me off my feet.
“I don’t have six hands.”
busted out laughing… I couldn’t combat the look of humble triumph in his face and we both had a good belly laugh to the confusion of the kids at the table.
In the witness of two, I had to just recognize and bow before my demanding, bossy tone and own it…
Later in the meal, one of the kids asked if I had made the dinner (who else makes dinner around here?) and then another about brownies that I threw together the night before and because of my broken wall of pride and the now open door to communication, I could shoot back and joke that, yes, in fact, I could do all that because I DO have six hands…(another laugh shared)
I won’t go into detail about how I carried, what now had become the six handed joke, into the shower that night with my husband…..
Laugh at yourself.. you can be pretty silly and petty at times. Spoken by one who knows.