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House Mtpspur is not always a place of domestic bliss and harmony even in a nominal Christian setting. Remember one of my favorite Bible verses is Jonah informing God he does well to be angry. Silly child of God with much to learn thankfully worshiping a very very patient God.

Now perhaps it's not a great secret that the Long Suffering Spouse is a very sweet and gentle natured harpy whose claws extend only ever now and again usually in my presence and a sense of righteous anger. Our arguments are usually of short duration and the flames burn fervently and are quickly spent. The days of reaping marriage benefits as a result of contriteness on my part have waned of late as I consider my mortality and the full meaning of till death do us part. Occasionally Mtpspur thinks about a safe way to have a mid-life crisis and see what the wild ones do. By the way we freely admit the insanity of chasing lost youth that never was and the inherent evils therein but sometimes I wonder why I'm still married. Usually the answer involves the Mrs. not wanting me loose to chase Logos but once in awhile I sigh with the attitude has it come to this??!! Then I remember the real mid-life crisis of 2005 and whimper.

Now right off the bat I always know when Ruth is being less then truthful. She stands straight, looks you right in the eye and DOES NOT BLINK as her little 'lie' is said in as noncommital a manner as possible.

About a week ago I had been grumbling about having to cover a $259 credit card bill (thanks to her having to attend to her new car payment I have summarily been gifted with her other bills) that I had mailed off hoping to get a least of "Thank you sweetheart I love you and do you want to play?" Nope too busy on the computer with her friend Amy in Indiana these days. I'm thinking of googling divorce laws and same sex marriages in Indiana as my ego keeps taking hits these days.

Two days later as I'm getting ready to work and again mumbling how my Avengers collection isn't getting any bigger with bill covering when she asks did I make the Meijers credit card payment or not? Mentally inside I realize she was hearing white noise the other day and assure her of course I did don't you remember blah blah I'm so supportive, wonderful and please gag me with a spoon anytime now. For some reason she's concerned about the payment not posting. I'm mildly interested as my Chase visa posts four days tops after mail-in but put it down to well that Meijers for you but a warning signal goes off in the brain cells silently urging investigation of this unwonted and extremely rare interest on her part on the keeping the wolf from the door methods I do.

I then go to work and forget about it until a couple of more days pass when another bill comes in. Good news the bill went DOWN. $2.
But it went down which I use to pontificate on the value of trying to send more then a minimal payment in and if that $259 hadn't cramped my style we would be further ahead on things and a $5 Avengers #66 would be in my box and off my list by now so there!!

I notice Ruth tensing at the word Meijers payment and the brain cell warning starts up saying "Told you told you". A light dawns!! I observe the oh so straightening of the shoulders and facing me making eye contact.

"You used the Meijers card again didn't you?!"

"No. Well--uh--"

The Drama Queen comes to life and dances like George Jefferson on the credits to The Jeffersons. She's busted and knows it.

"I needed gas."

The irony is I took my four days off from AAA and went nowhere preserving my fuel. Ruth was saving a $20 for me in case and I used $7 of it ultimately but had she TOLD me she needed fuel we could have split the $20. But nooooo Little Ruthie doesn't want to disturb her blundering grizzley.

For once I put on a very serious tone and inform her if she lies and I learn I can't trust her there is little reason to hang around when trust is gone. My sins against her have been grievious and confessed but payment has been rendered enough. We can tough out the economics for a bit but I truly felt I deserved better from her.

Now this entry has been to demonstrate the ups and downs of relationships. I have often heard that kids and money are the two biggest causes of strife in a marriage and for about five minutes I daydreamed about hitting the road and seeing America until I remembered the fate of the two guys in Easy Rider. Sides after 28 years there are still deep waters to explore with the Long Suffering Beloved Spouse. But I think I got her attention this time.

NEXT: The postponed part of the blog where the Devil Child has made THIS coming weekend interesting for me. Might wait until it's over before we get to it or make a prequel/sequel entry.