Are you expecting your spouse to be a MIND-READER? Here are the signs…

I remember it well.  I was trying to install some curtains in our new home in Florida.  It had been a rather stressful moving day, like most moving days, and my husband, Dave, had gone on a run to blow off some steam.  Instead of asking him to stay and help me, I decided to become a sinister martyr of sorts.

I angrily stomped up the ladder and grumbled as I drilled the holes for the anchors, which were seriously not cooperating.  I had made around five different holes on either side as I fought to have the strength to get the anchors right and drill in the rod ends.  The more I wrestled with the curtain rod, the angrier I became at Dave.

My mind was like a ping pong tournament of crazy thoughts, like:

I mean, how could he?  Didn’t he know we needed to install these curtains, RIGHT NOW?

No, I hadn’t told him my expectations.

Well, he should have KNOWN that those curtains needed to be installed right then. Didn’t he see the naked window?

Uh, no.  He probably never gave it one thought.  Just because I think about home design and decor all the time doesn’t mean that he does as well.

Hmm.  Well, I wish I could have gone on a run.  I need exercise too, you know.  He’s just thinking of himself.

Didn’t he just ask if you wanted to go to the gym, and you said “No’? But, “No” isn’t always “NO”, right?  For more on this, check out “5 Things Woman Say but Rarely Mean”.

We’ve been married enough time that he should be able to FIGURE OUT what I want.  Well, he sure missed it this time.  

My thoughts were consumed with blaming Dave and strategizing as to how I was going to let him know how WRONG he was for going on that run. Poor Dave had no idea what he was in for when he came back from his run…