Musing again….
Bo and I were friends for a long time before we progressed to ‘dating’. We already knew a lot, but began that “how do you feel about….?” thing.
Like….
Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?- Liver?
- Sweet potatoes or Idahos? Baked or Fried?
- Pickles or not?
- What do you like on a Hot Dog?
Do you notice a theme here?
It seemed that most of our questions revolved around food (If you could see us, that would not surprise you…).
It became a game, and we learned a lot about each other. We also learned that, while we have preferences about certain things (Animal House vs. Marvel Comic heroes), we can live with the differences. Sometimes we indulge each other and do things that the other likes. We have taken the opportunity to expand our experiences, and actually changed each other’s minds about some issues (I LIKE Sushi!). Other times, we say “Nah. You go. I’ll be here when you get back.”
It’s nice to have things we both like, but nice to have times that are exclusively ours.
But as we were doing this, something struck me.
We both make lists. 
We had lists of things to ask each other, of errands that needed to be run, of chores we didn’t want to forget about, or things we needed to buy. Something that warmed my heart was that sometimes we had similar things on each others’ lists.
Once my son laughed at me because he found several lists at my house. Many of them contained the same items. You see, I’ll make a list of, say, projects I want to get done this weekend. Well, there are too many, so the next weekend I’ll make another list, and yes…some of the same things will be on them. Or I’ll lose the original and have to start over again. Several times.
Bo’s lists are more organized than mine. He seldom has the same things on them. But they aren’t as long, either. Maybe he has a better sense of what he can accomplish in a certain period of time than I do.
Here are my questions for this Friday.
- What things do you and your significant other ‘tolerate’, simply because you know that differences make you who you are?
- Do you make lists? How’s that working for you?
(Oh….I like liver. He doesn’t. So I eat it when we’re not together. It works.)
First – definitely a list maker – always have been – have a couple going at any given time – it works for me even if I make one for a week and it gets to be a mess before three days have passed – and I do a nice new clean one with many of the same tasks. . .
As for differences me and my other tolerate – he loves oatmeal, so I make it for him, but I don’t have any (don’t like it big time). We actually both love liver. . . and he tolerates my lists – he doesn’t like making them because it frustrates him when he can’t get things checked off (my solution to that is if I do something NOT on my list, I put it on and check it off – feels so satisfying!!!)
What’s wrong with oatmeal?
( Bo doesn’t like it; I do) Oh, and I like that idea of adding to the list when you do something that’s not on it. Makes it look like you accomplished a lot!!!
I’ve been working on a similar blog post about lists:) I am definitely a list maker. Right now I have a list of things associated with selling and buying houses. With respect to food, John hates fish and I love it. He’s more of a meat eater than I. But mostly we are compatible in the food arena.
Oh – that house list is a killer! Makes you never want to move again…