It's been a while since I've read Men Are Like Waffles--Women Are Like Spaghetti: Understanding and Delighting in Your Differences
, but the other day I put it's idea's into practice. The idea behind the book is that men are like waffles (sorry to state the obvious) - meaning that they live life in "boxes" or "compartments." (like the boxes in a waffle) Each activity or thought has it's own "box" - work, watching tv, building a compost bin, sex, etc.
When they are in a "box", they are just in that box. Nowhere else. When they are at work - they are simply at work. When they are watching tv - they are just watching tv.
Apparently, there are a lot of boxes. There's one for work, one for sex (which, by the way, is the biggest box and is connected to every other box and can be jumped to at any time.) and there are also a lot of EMPTY boxes which big chunks of time are spent in. (this cracks me up.)
So, ladies, when you ask your husband the question, "What'cha thinkin' about?" And he replies, "Nothin'." Believe him.
As a women, this is a ridiculously hard concept to wrap my head around. I can't comprehend only having one thought going through my head at one time. Can you, Ladies? At any given moment I have like, 3,466,904,243 things going through my head. And that's before I get out of bed in the morning.
Hence, women being like spaghetti - all of our thoughts are connected and touch each other like a plate of spaghetti noodles.
This is how we can seamlessly jump from one subject to the next without skipping a beat while our poor hubby's are wondering what the heck grocery shopping has to do with going on vacation next year. My question is, "What don't they have in common?!"
Of course, the book does a MUCH better job of explaining this than I do. And it really has helped me to learn about the inner workings of a man's mind. :)
All of that to say - a few days ago I put this into practice. Here's the scene:
Hubby was outside building our compost bin and I had come inside to get Gilly a snack. I checked my email for 546th time that day and had received one from someone who I had contacted via Craigslist regarding a desk. I went back outside and mentioned to Aaron that we could pick the desk up anytime. After a few minutes (after leaving the compost-bin box and going into the should-we-pick-up-the-desk-today box) he asked me if I wanted to go that day and pick it up. I said that wasn't what I meant necessarily and we could go anytime. Nothing else was said about it.
Gilly and I came inside a bit later to get lunch and put her down for a nap. I remembered that I had made plans for later that evening and that I wasn't sure if it would work to pick up the desk, be back before Gilly's bedtime and go out later.
(Here's where I start to gloat.)
BEFORE (key word here) I ran back outside to tell Hubby about my plans for later that day, methinks to myself, "Hmm. I should wait till he's OUT of the compost-building box and talk to him later about it, that way he can just focus on the bin right now and not feel overwhelmed." Isn't that great?
The sad thing is, I read this book YEARS ago and it's taken me this long to put it into practice. Oh well. Better late than never.
I told Aaron about it later (this whole thought process), and you want to know what he said? "Thanks, honey. I appreciate that."
So, there you have it. :)
Are you like me and have a MILLION things going on at once in your head? Do you think you're hubby lives in "boxes". I bet he does!! :)
