You won't know until you're married

[Iheartcoffee]

I was talking to a friend a while back and we were talking about the fact that there is still so much you learn about your spouse after you get married. You think you know him, and then there will be some odd pet peeve he has or some kind of thing that has to be done a certain way. The only way you find out is by actually being married! For instance, my friend said her husband absolutely can’t stand brushing his teeth with cold water. He obviously drinks cold water, so it isn’t a tooth sensitivity issue. It’s just a toothbrushing preference. It wasn’t until after they were married that the issue came up. She learned that he absolutely cannot brush his teeth until the water warms up in the sink.

I realized there are odd facts I never knew about my husband until we got married. My husband likes to take naps on the living room floor. He takes a blanket and literally lays on the floor. It’s a conscious decision. I guess it’s comfortable? I don’t really criticize it because they are short naps and he generally doesn’t sleep right where I need to walk to get around the living room. Instead of going to the couch during the day if he wants a nap, sometimes he just takes a quick nap on the floor. Hey, whatever works…

What odd facts did you learn about your spouse only after you got married? Obviously, let’s keep these facts at a rather non-embarrassing level and G-rated. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your spouse posting about you.

 

[pensmama87]

Haha, this is a fun thread.

My husband won’t wear a shirt in the bathroom. Dunno why, but it’s something he’s done ever since he was a kid.

Also, alarm clocks don’t wake him up. That one can be annoying in the mornings.

 

[Petaro]

Where do I start? With love and patience. Well that stops most of them… However

1. She has restless legs and sharing a bed is dangerous and as restful as being next to the rails of the old steam engines.
2. You cannot leave a cup next to your chair in the lounge for any more than ten seconds after finishing it. It must be brought to the Kitchen and rinsed in the left sink only.(You are too incompetent to wash it completely.) Do not turn on the tap. Use the water in the right sink only, but under no circumstances pour the water back into the right sink.
3. Her farther was a worker on the railways so all men are good with their hands. She had no realization at how a barrister at law could be so useless.Her father could fix the lawn mower in a few minutes.
   4)Take the top towel off the pile. Do not take the larger one on the bottom as they are all stored according to size and she can tell if you disturb the pile.
4. When hanging up a towel you take the towel ends like this and do this, and this and this and carefully hang over the rack so that both sides are even.
5. Carpets are more important than husbands. Indeed so are curtains, lounges, chairs and made beds.It is important early in any marriage to be able to float over any wet surface and be able to hold your pee until all bathrooms are dry. Drink responsibly has more to do with bladder control than intoxication.
   Do not make lists you could never finish.

 

[Petersprincess1]

Haha, this is a fun thread.

My husband won’t wear a shirt in the bathroom. Dunno why, but it’s something he’s done ever since he was a kid.

:

Haha that was an episode on Seinfeld. Apparently George did the same thing and he was at a party and went to the bathroom and when he came out he forgot to put his shirt back on. So you’re hubby’s not the only one!

 

[pensmama87]

Haha that was an episode on Seinfeld. Apparently George did the same thing and he was at a party and went to the bathroom and when he came out he forgot to put his shirt back on. So you’re hubby’s not the only one!

Ha! Yes, I’d forgotten that one.

What’s funny is that my 3 year old also prefers to take off everything when in the bathroom. I don’t think my husband taught him to do that. So maybe it was something DH never grew out of? Or maybe it just runs in families.

 

[FrenzyJen]

This sort of account of marriage has always boggled my mind. I feel like there were no surprises when I got married. I’ve only been married 3 years, so sure, I suppose some could still pop up, but even moving in with him, I felt like there was no change besides it being “easier”. To be fair, we knew each other for 6 years before getting married, but I still imagined there would be something I would discover after marrying him. Nope. Everything was pretty much on the table.

 

[mommamaree]

I had NO idea how into sports, specifically football and golf, my husband was. Prior to marriage, he told me he wasn’t particularly interested in them. He even chose not to watch the Superbowl the year of our engagement to spend some time with me instead. Then, when we got married, everything changed. Here are a couple very crazy examples of things he did that he has since apologized for doing, because he was truly SO obsessed with sports that he couldn’t see the reality of anyone’s needs beyond his need to watch and participate in sports.
(1) In the first decade of our marriage, every football season included him parking it in front of the TV every Thursday and Monday evenings, and all day every Saturday and Sunday. We literally could go nowhere and do nothing together if football was on. He also got the special cable packages so he could channel surf to watch EVERY.SINGLE.GAME. that was being played every weekend. I learned to make the best of it and never complained and eventually got used to it, and then he just suddenly changed. He decided he didn’t like his addiction to sports entertainment and he was determined to moderate it. Go figure!
(2) He was so into golf that he would drag me along to play for 4-5 hours of golf, without a golf cart, carrying my own bag, no matter how hot. I wanted to learn how to play, because otherwise I would not see him on the weekends, between golf and football, but that meant I had to pretend I had stamina that I did not really have. I frequently ended golf rounds totally wiped out and emotional, but if I ever complained or asked to leave mid-round, he would get soooo mad and refuse to even think of it. I would be dragging my feet and feeling like I was going to pass out, but he was a man on a mission. The last time I went golfing with him, I was pregnant with our second child. Because of pregnancy, I was able to insist on a cart, but I got so dehydrated and exhausted that I started having contractions, despite only being about 20 weeks, and my terror at possibly losing the baby made me insist upon leaving early. He was very angry at me that day for ruining his golf round, and so that was the last time I ever went with him. Now, however, he never goes golfing. Why? Because he is too busy taking care of his family and meeting their needs that he has decided to sacrifice his golfing hobby for a few years. He knows he can take up golfing again soon enough.

These behaviors properly horrify him now, but back then, I felt like the victim of a bait and switch. Where was the man that I had become engaged to? He was a man obsessed, to the point that the legitimate needs of his wife were irrelevant compared to his entertainment and hobbies. And yet, through all of that, he was still always an awesome husband and a good man, and I did my best to bite my tongue and go along with his hobbies so I could just get a chance to spend more time with him. Now it is amusing, and we both look forward to being able to enjoy football and golf season more as a family when the kids get older. Both are great fun, but I think it is great that he has learned moderation.

 

[phillylawyer]

1. Her farther was a worker on the railways so all men are good with their hands. She had no realization at how a barrister at law could be so useless.Her father could fix the lawn mower in a few minutes.

This is I, my wife, and my father-in-law in a nutshell.

 

[MJJean]

I did not know about “sick alarm clock games”.

I am the type to set the alarm for when I need to wake up. I hear the alarm then get right out of bed to shut if off and start my day. My DH, on the other hand, sets the alarm for an hour to an hour and a half before he has to get up and hits snooze repeatedly. It drives me batty. He knows it drives me batty. But he just can’t fully wake up without a few practice runs.

 

[UbiCaritas]

I did not know about “sick alarm clock games”.

I am the type to set the alarm for when I need to wake up. I hear the alarm then get right out of bed to shut if off and start my day. My DH, on the other hand, sets the alarm for an hour to an hour and a half before he has to get up and hits snooze repeatedly. It drives me batty. He knows it drives me batty. But he just can’t fully wake up without a few practice runs.

Oh, man. THIS. Can’t stand it.

To be fair, though, even after a year and a half of marriage, the poor guy doesn’t sleep well if we share a bed. We do much of the time because it’s so important to me, and we don’t know why, exactly, he doesn’t sleep well when we share a bed. I’ve asked if I kick/snore/am a restless sleeper/etc, he says no…he just doesn’t sleep well.

And honestly, if this is the worst issue we have…

 

[randomguy180]

My husband likes to take naps on the living room floor. He takes a blanket and literally lays on the floor. It’s a conscious decision. I guess it’s comfortable?

I love sleeping on the floor.
It is really comfortable and its better than a couch for your back.

 

[phillylawyer]

Oh, man. THIS. Can’t stand it.

To be fair, though, even after a year and a half of marriage, the poor guy doesn’t sleep well if we share a bed. We do much of the time because it’s so important to me, and we don’t know why, exactly, he doesn’t sleep well when we share a bed. I’ve asked if I kick/snore/am a restless sleeper/etc, he says no…he just doesn’t sleep well.

And honestly, if this is the worst issue we have…

Yeah. I do this too. It drives my wife crazy.