In honor of the
institution of marriage, we offer the following parable, drawing liberally on more
than 50 idiomatic pairs (55 to be exact). Enjoy.
They’d had their ups and downs. For the better part of two years, their
relationship was touch and go.
He left bright and early for work, she an hour later,
first attending to household odds and ends, then dropping the kids at day care
before arriving at the office. Traffic, as always, was hit or miss, so when she
arrived late she could count on her boss reading her chapter and verse about
punctuality, and corporate policy.
She was born and bred in the South, a prim and proper
woman who put heart and soul into the marriage.
To him, life was more cut and dried.
He had some hard and fast rules (a list of do’s and don’ts, if you
will), none more important than telling his kids to mind their p’s and q’s.
Year after year he complained about the wear and tear of
his job. He knew the ins and outs of his
work, and fought tooth and nail to climb the corporate ladder (how else was he
going to earn the family’s bread and butter?).
Day after day she encouraged him to leave, to search far
and wide for a new position. He was sick and tired of mistreatment at work (not
to mention the daily aches and pains), and his displeasure was growing in leaps
and bounds. Twice his raise was denied (“just wait and see” his colleagues told
him), but he was tired of the non-stop song and dance from management.
At home, she was at his beck and call (“a life on pins
and needles,” she once told a friend). But she too was suffering from the
hustle and bustle of life. It was time
for a change. And money was tight.
They’d debate the facts and figures, but rarely saw eye to eye. Now and then they’d agree (e.g., on that new
set of pots and pans, for example), but with everything costing an arm and a
leg, opportunities to save were few and far between.
Whenever he was down and out, she’d search for that magic
elixir. They’d talk through the pros and cons (volleying back and forth), and
though her message was short and sweet, his ire grew. Round and round, they
went, on and on he complained. He finally shared: “All I really want is a
moment of peace and quiet.”
Was life ever fair and square? Rarely, of course, but it was time, she
insisted, to stop the ranting and raving. The kids were safe and sound (witness
their endless game of hide and seek), and the house was always neat and tidy
(she kept everything spic and span).
Challenging days, she told him, are part and parcel of life. Greet every day, she urged, as a chance to
live and learn.
First and foremost, she reminded him, the family was
alive and kicking. Through thick and
thin, they had managed to build a life together. Abandon the path? No rhyme or reason to do so. It was time to
forgive and forget. Time to yield to the notion that life, in all its glory, is
not meant to be free and easy.
Between sink or swim, she told him, it was time to
swim.
##
No comments:
Post a Comment