R-E-S-P-E-C-T

There has been a cable/internet bill sitting on our counter for three weeks that is $28 higher than it should be. It is a point of contention between M and me.

He feels that I have more "free" time during the day and, therefore, should be the one to wrangle with our provider over the incorrect fees that we have been charged.

I feel that I do not have all of the "free" time that he thinks that I do. He gets an hour lunch break. That's plenty of time to call the company.

In case you can't tell, this is about more than a cable/internet bill. This has become more of a battle of wills and principals. I do not feel that I am being valued and I don't think that M sees the "work" that I do as being as important as the work that he does. I feel as if I do a hundred and one things during the day, but he only seems to notice the things that I don't get to.

I feel as if we both are working hard, but I often don't feel as if my efforts are being appreciated. I feel as if I have to justify my time to M (why, for example, I had time to go to a play date but not straighten out the bill) and that makes me feel like a rebellious teenager. I know this is not the mature, responsible way to behave, but I feel as if this is the only way that I can make my point. (For the record, I already tried to straighten the bill out once, and it wasn't done properly and I had to listen to M complain about that for a half hour.)

So the bill has just sat there. Until last night.

M came home, in a bit of a thundercloud mood to begin with, and was already complaining before he hit the door. I hadn't broken the cardboard down before I put it in the recycling bin, I hadn't gotten the mail, blah, blah, blah. So, when he spied the offending piece of paper, still untouched on the counter, it was game on.

What I hate most about our arguments lately is that a lot of them take place in front of Will. My parents rarely fought in front of my siblings and me, to the point where I can actually remember the occasional times that they did arge. I remember the sick feeling in my tummy when they did fight, and I don't want him to have to feel like that. Although, to be fair, he was too busy banging his sippy cup on the tray and stuffing turkey in his mouth to seem bothered. But still!

Looks like the honeymoon phase from our anniversary trip is over.

*Author's Disclaimer: Writing this post has not been part of my "free" time. I have had to stop once to change a diaper, twice to play peek-a-boo, and have held Will on my lap for the rest of the time. A post that probably took five minutes to read took over an hour to put together. LOL!