DOWN HOME:
Only time & experience prepare hubbies for this
___Very often, the secret to wedded bliss turns on the simplest of questions.
___Like the other morning at breakfast. There I was, minding my own business--drinking coffee, eating cereal and reading the daily newspaper.
___That's when Joanna marched in, fresh from her shower, but with a look of imminent
decision in her eyes.
___She cut right through the preliminaries. No "How did you sleep, Dear?" or "What's the weatherman say?" for her.
___No, she just blurted the question every husband dreads most, "Do you like my hair?"
___Milk curdled in my cereal bowl. Coffee froze in my cup.
___"Do you like my hair?" she asked. No wiggle room in that question. She could've asked something more indirect, like, "Do you think I should think about changing my hair?"
___But Jo asked me straight out, "Do you like my hair?"
___As I thought about how to respond to a question for which, very possibly, no correct answer exists in all time and eternity, I realized I've been married for a good, long time.
___A newly married husband--wanting desperately to please his wife but unaware of the myriad of meanings and interpretations to this question--would make a fatal error by telling her what he thinks she wants to hear.
___"Of course, I like your hair," he'd say, attempting to secure her self-esteem and thereby save his skin.
___But a guy who's been married for awhile, if he's paying attention, realizes the fallacy of such reasoning. It's as plain as the hair on her head: A woman won't ask about her hairdo unless she's thinking of changing it.
___Of course, a husband who's no longer a newlywed but still inexperienced and naive enough to try to explain the inexplicable ways of his mate will be stumped by such a question.
___He knows the "everything's perfect" answer won't work, so he wracks his brain trying to figure out what his Reason-for-Getting-Up-In-the-Morning really wants him to say. He tries to remember every magazine ad she's lingered over, every comment she's made about every woman they've seen in the past two weeks. Inevitably, he only mumbles something unintelligible and hurries off to work as soon as possible.
___Thanking God for almost 22 years of marriage, I gave Jo the right answer: The honest truth.
___"Honey, you know I like long hair," I said. "But you're the only one who's going to wear your hair, fix your hair and care about every wisp and curl of your hair. So, grow it however you want. I'll still love it.
___"Besides, if you can look at my bald head every morning for the rest of our lives, I'll never have any trouble looking at your head of luscious red hair."
___Then Jo chuckled. Thank the Lord for time and experience--and a wife with a sense of humor, as well as pretty hair.
__
The Baptist Standard
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