Archive for the 'relationships' Category

23
Dec
09

Transgressions of my mouth

For some reason I was thinking about my mouth … and how I can snap off with it from time to time. Or, how I *used* to snap off with it from time to time.

In all the time we’ve been together I’ve only gotten greasy about the mouth once with Mr. SLS. He left the house. Later he told me not to EVER cuss at him again. And I haven’t.

But in the past I have said some things with the intention of slicing and dicing a muthaeffer with my tongue.

Like the time I said to a dude, “Hell, all this yipyapping and shit, you sound like a bitch. Get some ballz ’bout yourself.”

And the time after that when I said, “I’m sorry I said the shit, but only because you keep bringin’ it up two, three years later, hell! Stop whining wit’ yo’ bitch ass.”

There was the time I said, “If I gotta figure this out all by myself, what the hell do I need you for?”

And oh yeah, the time I said, “If you want to eat here, you need to bring some groceries, cause my money don’t feed me and big [N-words]*, too.”

I get it honest, I do. I’ve listened to and watched my mama, aunts, grandma, great-aunts, cousins and beyond grind a mofo down with their words. I used to be proud of being mouthy and having a quick comeback on the ready in case a negro acted up.

Not anymore. I remember my mama telling me a few years ago that she wanted me to be married and if I wanted to be married I couldn’t do what she did. She had had her husband and didn’t want another one, I still had to get mine and talking any kinda way to a man I supposedly cared about was not cool.

If it matters at all, I said all of that to the SAME man and I eventually realized I didn’t respect him. Or love him. Or like him. We broke up and have never spoken again.

What about you? Do you let whatever comes up come out and talk to your mates/dates disrespectfully? If so, how’s that working for you?


*This was before I decided to remove that word from my vocabulary.

06
Nov
09

Speak no evil

I have a friend who has hit a rough patch in her marriage. I feel certain that they will work their way through it, but I’m watching how they get through so that I can learn ways to navigate us through trouble if/when it comes.

My parents argued a lot. Yelling and screaming and door slamming and all types of dramatics. Nobody bit their tongue and they would say anything to each other. I was glad when they split because it was finally peaceful.

But (and parents, take note of this) what I learned from them, I modeled in my relationships. I would say anything cause my perception was that if you’re a man you can and will take it. Man up biyatch!

I don’t do that now. Mr. SLS and I talk about a lot of stuff to try to keep things from festering. We’ve agreed that we will seek counseling if we need to in the future.

It hasn’t been hard not to fight dirty. Mr. SLS doesn’t do much that makes me 198 degrees hot enough to fly off the handle and talk greasy.

I know that I don’t want the kind of marriage my parents had. They were ill-matched and their marriage collapsed. I want to be and stay happily married. That takes work and conscious effort.

My friend has a strong marriage and that’s why I have no doubts they will get reconnected. In the interim I’ll just watch, take notes and learn.

21
Sep
09

When I think about cheating.– Gretchen Wilson (#musicmonday)

I told ya’ll long ago that I like most music genres, including country. (Yes, I have two-stepped in a honkeytonk. And I went to visit Loretta Lynn’s ranch. If you want to hear some really entertaining lyrics, listen to this Loretta hit).

But this post is about a Gretchen Wilson ballad from a couple of years ago. I love the lyrics to this song.

I’ve never done anything

That would ever bring a tear to your eye
I’ve never crossed the line
Or needed an alibi to cover up a lie
But darling I’ll admit
There’ve been times when I could have
The thing that kept me strong
Is the one thing that is always on my mind

When I think about cheatin’

I just think about you leavin’
And how my world would fall to pieces
If I tossed your love away
Even when I’m tempted by some stranger
Oh there’s never any danger
I just think about you leavin’
When I think about cheatin’

There was a time in Abilene
When he said all the things I wanted to hear
It was hard to turn him down
Between the champagne and the sound of whispers in my ear
But it just took one two-step with someone, and I was missing you
He never had a chance, cause I broke up the dance
Before the song was through

When I think about cheatin’

I just think about you leavin’
And how my world would fall to pieces
If I tossed your love away
Even when I’m tempted by some stranger
Oh there’s never any danger
I just think about you leavin’
When I think about cheatin’

Here’s the video, filmed at the old Grand Old Opry (yep, been there, too. I’ve seen the new building but never been inside). Check it out.

18
Jul
09

Dating, marriage et al

I was writing this as response to a post on another blog and decided I would just cut and paste the ish here because I’m really just tired of the whole “ain’t no good brothas/sistas out here” comments. Ya’ll know this is not true. You *know* it’s not true.

Now, this is my blog so I’m going to write from my female perspective, but this message is universal and can be applied to men and women: Husbands don’t look like boyfriends.

Now, before you run off half cocked taking my rhetorical statement literally, sit down and keep reading.

Is Mr. SLS who I envisioned when I dreamed of who my husband might be? No. I thought he’d be taller, darker, bigger, blahblahblah. But he ain’t none of that and is still just right for me.

What if I had fired him from the beginning because he’s not suave and I need a cool brother? Because he’s skinny and I need a brother who can push a plow? Because he’s a teacher/musician and I need a brother who can put me in a 20,000 square foot house?

I would have missed my man behind that BS.

I work in a building with a lot of blue collar brothers who are always very polite and respectful to me and I always think when I see them and they say, “Hello” and ask me how my day is or whatever, that surely one of those brothers has got to be a decent guy. But nary a one of my single say they wanna be married friends would date them because they are the maintenance guys instead of on the professional track.

I know women who would not have dated my husband because he is a teacher and therefore could not possibly be earning enough money for them. Which is fine, but, if I stopped working today, nothing would go off or fall short in this house because my teacher husband provides for us and my money takes care of what I had when we got married.

You’re missing your man behind some BS!

Here’s what I’m saying: take a step back. If you *really* want to be married, then take a good look at some of the folks you’re turning away. Some of them probably do need to keep it moving, but surely out of 10 people, one of them is worth a second look, or some more conversation.

Brothas, Beyonce is gone. Off the market. And was never available to you anyways! Move on. That sista walking in the Susan G. Komen race? She might be available.

Same to you sistas, Denzel/Will Smith etc.? Not an option. But the quiet brother with the glasses down in accounting? He might be available.

15
Jul
09

What’s going on, my friends?

Yeah, I’ve been away from the blog for a bit. This thing can be a grind and with Facebook and Twitter accounts to play with, too, that’s an overabundance of Interwebz going on sometimes, so I have to scale it back before I’m a crazy person who stares at a computer 24-hours a day.

Mr. SLS has been gone for almost two weeks and it’s actually been cool. We’ve had more funny phone conversations than usual which is a trip. I miss him, but it’s been nice being alone, too. I’ve done some drinking and hanging out with the girls and I might go catch the Harry Potter movie tonight.

In any case, here’s something I made last night while I was bored. I got the idea from CreoleInDC who makes these using conversations with her husband. This is loosely based on a conversation Mr. SLS and I had yesterday.

NOTE: A mouse ran out from under the bed in the middle of the night last week scaring me to death.

20
Jun
09

A great in-law outing

Yesterday was my brother-in-law’s wife’s birthday so we all got together for dinner and drinks, then went to hear Mr. SLS play some jazz.

It was cool to hang out drinking and partying with my in-laws. Everybody was relaxed and making jokes and cutting up and it was one of the best times I’ve had with them. I think my sister-in-law has accepted our relationship boundaries as she did not mention doing my hair.

On another note, Mr. SLS has been playing a lot of gigs lately and we’ve been hanging out til the wee hours for the past month or so. We haven’t stayed in the street like this since before we were married. I love being his groupie. LOL!

09
Jun
09

I love you until I don’t

My cousin Chris, the one who is like the big brother I never had, is getting divorced.

When he brought his soon-to-be ex-wife around 12 years ago, I’ll admit I preferred this other woman he was seeing that I had befriended. His other girl was really cool, pretty, smart and we were in the same sorority.

But my cousin told me he preferred the woman who would later become his wife. So, I left it alone. He loved her and it was his choice — and life — at the end of the day.

Until the other day, I’ve never been rude to his wife. In fact, I went out of my way to be nice and friendly to her because not one other person in our family liked her or wanted him to marry her. And when my family decides not to like you, they will make your life hard indeed. I figured until she did something to me or hurt my cousin, it was all good.

Why does my family hate her so? She lied. All the time. About everything. First, she said her kids (she had two when he met her) had the same father. That turned out to be a lie. She said she had been married before and had left her husband. Lie. She told me she went to college and pledged a different sorority than the one I am a member of. Lie. If she was talking she was lying.

While they were dating Grandma invited her to an event and she wore the shortest, tackiest, sluttiest dress for miles around embarrassing our grandmother. After she bent over one time too many my Grandma said, “Everyone here is dressed like a lady except you. Go put some clothes on cause I’m tired of seeing the top of your ass crack every time you bend over.”

I’m sure there are good things about her, too, I just can’t think of any of them.

Now, after almost 10 years of marriage, this couple is done-zo. She found a new man and decided she didn’t want to be married anymore. When my cousin told me about the pending divorce, we had a good long talk about relationships etc. No matter what *we* saw, he loved his wife, lumps, bumps, lies and all.

When she called me Sunday asking for something — I don’t know what, cause I cut her short — I was rude to her. I’m wrong for that. In our whole family, I am the *one* person who has been consistently nice to her, so whatever she needed, I’m prolly the only one she could ask.

BUT TOO DAMN BAD CAUSE THAT WENCH DUMPED MY COUSIN FOR ANOTHER MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I know I’m going to hell.

30
Apr
09

My birthday surprise!

I realize I never told you what my birthday surprise was! It was tickets to this: Revived ‘Ragtime,’ Bursting With Energy & Ingenuity.

This was a great surprise because a couple of months ago I had mentioned reading the book several years earlier and we had a long conversation about the story and the characters in it. Mr. SLS remembered that and when he saw the show was coming to town and opened on my birthday, he snatched up two tickets.

I had a great time and was reminded how much I appreciate my husband who *listens* to me.

26
Apr
09

I just called to say I love you

I tell Mr. SLS I love him all of the time. For example, I might yell down the stairs “I LOVE YOU!” randomly just because I felt it. It’s real freeing for me to be able to express myself and have it reciprocated. He’s the only person I am like that with or have ever been like that with.

In past relationships it was hard for me to say those words. Even with my parents. When we get off the phone and they say they love me it seems…odd. And it’s because they didn’t say that to me when I was growing up. I realize that as I have grown up they have grown as people and part of that is trying to have a different relationship with me, including telling me that they love me and hugging me and generally trying to be more expressive about their love for me. It’s still weird to me though.

It’s never seemed weird to hear Mr. SLS tell me he loved me. When he told me the first time, I said, “I know. I love you too.” Cause I did know before he told me how he felt about me. Just like I know my parents love me. But the dynamics of our relationship from early on was not a “loving” one, it was very “I am the parent, you are the child, do as I say, not as I do.”

That’s why I love the way my husband loves me. The way he always kisses me when he leaves in the morning and hugs me when I get home in the evening and asks how my day was.

For the past three days I have barely seen him because he’s been working a long three day gig, leaving before I woke up and not getting home until after I was asleep. But he called to tell me he missed me. That was the best thing ever.

I can’t wait until he gets home so I can tell him I love him.

08
Apr
09

Do you lust after your mate?

Do they know it or is it all in your head?

I love to see Mr. SLS in his Army gear, for whatever reason it’s real sexy to me.

On Sunday he came in with his gear on looking all luscious and hawt and sexy (to me). He started talking to me while leaning in the doorway unzipping his jacket and for about 5 minutes I just zoned out on what he was saying because it was like it was a slow motion soldier boy nudie bootie video with this undressing thing. He may as well have been licking his lips all LL Cool J-style, you know?

Then for whatever reason I snapped to and burst out laughing and he was like what? I explained how I hadn’t heard a damn thing he just said cause I was way too focused on him and the undressing.

teehee




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