Marital Bliss

I thought it might be fun to post excerpts from recent talks that Wes and I gave in church. There was some shocking and awing, but for the most part our talks were pretty tame (we like to shake Sacrament Meeting up occasionally.) I think we may have even injected a little spirituality into them, if you can believe it. A little background...the night before our Farewell to the Single's Ward addresses (Note: We were just released from the Single's Ward this past Sunday and were called to the Spanish Branch of all places...more on that to come), Wes warned me that he might throw some public jabs my way. Lucky for me, I was speaking first. Here's how it played out.

It’s a very dangerous thing, speaking before your husband. If he decides to blackmail you, you have no chance to respond, so I would just counsel Wes to remember that our actions always have consequences…In this case, I think I’ll just make a preemptive attack.

Being married is absolutely wonderful. The other day, my new father-in-law asked me what the toughest part of being married is, and I had little to complain about. There are a few things that no one told me that have been a bit eye-opening…for instance, I had no idea the number of hours Wes devotes each week to programs like Battlestar Gallactica and Stargate Atlantis. I just don’t see the attraction, (but we solved this by setting up separate DVRs.) Wes also has a tendency to keep perishable food in his frige for months past the expiration date, and then he EATS it. I’m pretty sure he had food in there from the 80s when I moved in. I had no idea how dire his need was for a wife to make sure he survives the next 10 years. Finally, it’s been interesting trying to keep track of Wes’s keys, wallet, cell phone, and wedding ring. I’m not sure that he has left the house with all of these items once since I’ve known him. As a matter of fact, just this morning, he sent me a text from Brantley’s phone that read, “Hey, this is your husband. Can you bring my ring and my phone? My phone is on the living room chair. Thanks.” It’s a miracle he makes it to any meetings on time. I’ve set up a little bowl that he can puts these things in every time he comes home. Fortunately, it’s getting better. Despite all of this, I couldn’t be happier. What fun would marriage be without these little idiosyncrasies to make life interesting? I’d get really bored if EVERYTHING were perfect.

To which Wes responded...

Ahh.. So my thanks to Rachael for that beautiful talk. If you don’t know Rachael, you might think from that talk that she is very eloquent and has wisdom beyond her years as well as a wonderful mastery of the English language. That’s not always entirely accurate…

For example, her parents will often repeat the story of when they once asked Rachael, then an 11 year-old, where she thought denim came from. “From denim trees,” she replied a-matter-of-factly. Or more recently when we were honeymooning in Costa Rica, and I stopped to give a couple of friendly workers a lift in exchange for some directions. She said, “my Mommy and Daddy told me not to pick up hi-jackers.” Lucky for us, we weren’t hi-jacked. Or when she wanted to know if something was from Holland, and she asked if it was “Hollish”.

Sometimes she’ll say the darnedest things – I’m going to make a quote book and blackmail her with it some day. When we went horseback riding, and she was assigned a horse that was pathetically small, she said, “you can always tell a good horse, cause it’s not a midget.” Deep thoughts by Rachael Rawson.

There is just a cute, loving side to her that not many get to see – and it’s definitely one of the things I love about her. So I guess Ryan North is thinking, “oh great, he’s going to bear testimony of Rachael again.” So back to the task at hand...

Believe it or not, we actually did eventually get into the meat of our talks on faith and humility. It just happened to be after our ritual pride-exerting exercise. Ironic? Perhaps.