On the relationship of a husband and a wife, translated…
Since I got my license, there would be at least three days that I’d picked up my husband from work. Other than feeling awful about how he’d needed to run around all day long, I’d wanted to increase the time that the kids get to spend with their dad.
This day, I saw him walking over from the opposite side of the road, I’d switched to the passenger side as I usually would, so he could take over, and drive home. But, as my husband opened up the car door, he’d, sighed, “Why did you adjust the seat again?”, I’d replied with this tone of apology and playing coy, “I just have shorter legs, I’d needed to adjust the seats forward so I can reach the brake and the gas pedals.”
After my explanations, he’d not said another word. He took a deep inhale, bent his back, got into his car, then, breathed heavily, working really hard, to squiggle his body, so he can, get into the cramped up driver’s side, he looked like he was in pain.
Suddenly, I’d, found, that that sigh he let out when he’d opened up the door, didn’t mean anything, it was just, his preparation, to cramp himself into that small and tight driver’s side—finally, he’d managed, to get in, to the driver side, before he was able to breathe yet, he’d immediately, adjust the seats, and, stretched out a bit.
Seeing how he was relaxed, my heart finally, felt relieved; and, at that very moment, I’d known, that every time if I’d adjusted the seats beforehand, then, my husband wouldn’t have to act like a modern dance performer, challenged his body to do the extremes.
This discovery had, saddened me so, I’d said shamefully to him, “I’m sorry, I should’ve been more empathetic toward you. Actually, you could’ve reminded me, then, I wouldn’t have, forgotten to readjust the seats, and you wouldn’t have such a difficult time, squeezing into the small space.”
As he drove, he’d answered, “It’s okay, you’d come to pick me up. Compare to that, the seats are, something minute.”
He’d moved me so with his replies. To tell the truth, he could’ve been so self-righteous, claiming, that it was, MY responsibilities to adjust the seats, and even, gotten angry at my carelessness, but instead, he’d, focused on what I’d done for me, and, for the things that were lacking, he’d made up for in silence.
Maybe, a husband and a wife should be like this. I do something for you, and you do something for me, accepting one another’s “body shapes”, to adjust the common space you live in to fit the both of you.
So, from this seating “arrangement”, the wife learned a lesson about marriage, because the husband only focused on his wife came to pick him up every day after work, he’d not minded having to readjust the seats to fit his size, and, it made the wife realized how careless she was, of not thinking about him, and, knowing this now, can only help her improve her own actions for the better from here on out.