Small Changes

As Kenny and I were getting ready for bed the other night (….at 9pm. Don’t make fun; that’s when you go to sleep when you have a four-month-old who may or may not be truly sleeping through the night. It’s true. It’s in the manual.) I commented that I wasn’t quite as enamored with my pillow as I used to be.

This is a big thing. Not long ago I absolutely LOVED my pillow and could not sleep well without it. I’d get all depressed if we went to stay overnight somewhere and I forgot it. I bet pregnancy changed my view of it. So I can blame Riley. Awesome.

My ever chivalrous spouse offered me his pillow, which is one of those memory foam ones with the depression in the middle of it, you know, for proper spine alignment and such. I have tried pillows like that in the past and found that I just don’t like them. When I said this to my other half, he responded with, “Okay, but just think of all of the things you hadn’t given a chance before you met me and now you’re hooked on.”

So instead of going right to sleep and not thinking about it like any good mother of a four-month-old (who may or may not be truly sleeping through the night) should do, I gave Kenny’s statement some thought. A few things popped into my head right away, and of course I had to get out of bed and open up my laptop so I could get it all down before I forgot something. (Remember, that’s been known to happen on many an occasion. Just think of all of the wisdom crap I could have imparted in the past but didn’t because I forgot before I could get to my computer. Now you’ll never know.)

None of these things are really life-changing. I for one do not believe one should change the way they are for the one they love. If you start out one way then you should stay that way. My husband fell in love with me for a reason, right? Sure, nobody’s perfect (certainly not me!), but that’s what makes us all so unique. He loves me regardless of all of my idiosyncrasies, so there’s no need to change. With all of our good and our bad, we’re perfect for each other. These “changes” listed below are just small, everyday improvements in my life as a whole, not changes to me as a person. Or at least, that’s what I think they are.

Wow, sorry about that slight deep diversion.

Okay, so here are the four items I came up with, in no particular order:

• Toothpaste: I was solely a Crest girl before I met Kenny. Then he told me about Arm & Hammer toothpaste with baking soda. I admit, the first time I tried it was out of necessity (There was no other option as we were traveling. I probably had forgotten my pillow, too.) and I did not like it one bit. But Kenny convinced me to give it a few more chances and he promised me I would be hooked. And you know what? I am. I’m hooked. I can’t stand Crest anymore. It tastes like candy compared to Arm & Hammer. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but not in this case. “Candy” and “clean teeth” just don’t really go together. The baking soda in the Arm & Hammer toothpaste just leaves your mouth feeling so fresh and clean. I dare you to give it a fair try (at least a week). You may never go back to Crest, either.
• Green peppers: I’m not sure I had ever tasted a green pepper before dating Kenny. This is mostly because my mom never uses them when she cooks because my dad just can’t handle them. They do bad things to his stomach. And while I can’t remember the exact moment I first tasted one in all their glory, I do remember that it was Kenny who introduced me to them. I don’t know what I ever did without green peppers in my life. They are simply delicious, and I’m so sorry, Dad, that you can’t eat them. You don’t know what you’re missing. Oh, well; more for me!
• Separating laundry (or lack thereof): Like my mother taught me when I went off to college, I dutifully separated my whites from my darks whenever doing laundry. This changed when I had dated Kenny for a few years. He was putting a load in once and I remember he hadn’t separated anything. Whites, darks, towels, undies, you name it! He just threw enough in until it was full and let it whirl. (Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Name that movie.) I soon realized that this is much easier than separating everything out (with the exception of sheets and towels; I do wash those separately) and have adopted the practice of NOT separating ever since. And I believe I have only inadvertently turned something pink once. Perhaps twice.
• Classic rock: I have an eclectic taste in music that runs the gamut from Top 40s to Country to New Age to Showtunes. And while my parents also exposed me and my brother to lots of great music from their generation that I still love to this day, I hadn’t really listened to much classic rock. Enter my husband. He’s a true classic rock fan. He introduced me to lots of songs I had never heard before that I now really enjoy. These days the radio in my car is practically permanently tuned to the local classic rock station. And that’s what I listen to, except for those times when I just need a Glee fix. That’s when I plug in my iPod and sing as loud as I want to, persons in the cars around me be damned. Sometimes you just have to belt out a good showtune. It can make everything better. 

So thank you, my sweet, wonderful, dearest husband, for introducing me to the aforementioned things. In doing so you have made my life better.

Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have to go make a second pot of coffee so I can remain awake to take care of my four-month-old (who did, in fact, sleep through the night). Maybe I should just keep pen and paper in my nightstand so I can avoid having to get up and type when I should be sleeping.

That would make a lot of sense.