Mrs. Free Spirit and Mr. Nerd

I thought I understood the word, submission.  Though honestly, it has not been difficult for me to even obtain it……as Darron does not lord his maleness or power over me, nor I him.  And all in all we usually see things pretty eye-to-eye, so clicking on 17 + years of marriage, I felt I had the submission thing down.

I didn’t expect some warm fuzzy little puppies to challenge my thoughts on being a submissive wife. 

Ha!  They did.

You see, I am from the “free spirited” country where I could give away everything at complete abandon.  We would also be desperately poor, have no provisions for the future, forget vacations or even next months groceries.  Though under the “nerd” country of my husband, I have learned the joys in having a budget, saving consistently, giving joyfully and freely….but not without careful calculations in all area’s.  We have balanced each other nicely.  Rarely  have we had disagreements about money in our marriage.

Those puppies were to undo our nice smooth track record.

 

How dare they!!!!!

You see Mrs. Free Spirit felt that being the Mom and Dad dogs had been GIVEN to us, that in turn we should GIVE away the puppies.  However, Mr. Nerd felt that the gift of the dogs to us, was a great way for us to turn this into a beautiful investment and then give that money to any given project in Indonesia.  Also Mr. Nerd was painfully aware of the expense to keep two full grown dogs full here.  And keep in mind that Mr. Nerd gets asked for money probably 20 + times on any given week, from many many sincere and needy people/projects.

And so our polar opposite views clashed.  Especially as friends began to ask for puppies and the pending question of, “how much?”

Around and around we went.  I pouted and fussed and then would steel myself and say, “I respect you….I will submit”.  The weeks kept going by and the puppies were getting bigger and in need of homes and we were still not on the same page.

At last, we came to a mutual agreement that the puppies could sell for $300.00.  Usually, they sell for five to eight hundred dollars here in Papua.  In the end, I was relieved that we put a price on them as so many people wanted them and it just made it easier to sort out who was serious and that they would go to good homes.  Also now we have over a thousand dollars to donate to a project here.  So I will have to say, “You were right (Mr. Nerd) and I was wrong.”  That is one of our key survival phrases to a happy marriage.

So to submission……I’ve had my lesson.  May the next 17 years, not test me on that one again.  Please?!  I’ve got it, I’ve got it……..really I have!