...pation
2004-09-28, 10:11 a.m.

On the subject of things worth waiting for:

Tonight is the Cramps concert! We have never seen them in concert. Seeing as how they�ve been around since the invention of dirt, it�s about dang time. It should be a good blend of newbies and old farts in attendance. Fun will be had by all.

I�m just as excited to meet Work Buddy for the first time tonight. He�s going with us to the concert. I�ve spoken to him by phone a few times and can�t wait to experience the Real Deal. He�s a hoot of a guy that works with Hubby and harasses him in continuation of my duties in absentia. It began when Hubby related the tale of taking me to The Melt*ing Pot restaurant for my birthday last year. I really, really wanted to go. We approached the front and Hubby got an eye-opening view of the prices. He refused to go in and took me to another, decidedly cheaper place instead. Work Buddy howled at this story, informed Hubby what a �cheap ass� he is, and said he will get a gift certificate to take me there and Hubby can sit with us and have a glass of water.

I like him.

I think tonight will be fun.

In Hubby�s defense, he�s not as cheap as he used to be. (Nothing like having children to loosen up the wallet a bit.) When we were first married, he was determined to scrimp us into miserable wealth. (An equal and opposite reaction to my �How can we be overdrawn? We still have checks left� financial know-how.) Our first newlywed snit was over light bulbs. Hubby wanted to change our lone 100 watt bulb on the front porch to a lowly 40 watter in order to save majorly on electricity. He whipped out his scientific calculator and decreed with all airs of authority that doing so would save us $2.72 PER YEAR in electricity.

I stood there and blinked at him.

I refuted his dreams of financial glory by pointing out that not only was that beyond the bounds of cheapdom, that was opening us up to injury lawsuits should someone stumble off our porch because THERE WASN�T ENOUGH LIGHT TO SEE. The million-dollar payout would slightly eclipse the just-under-3-bucks we had saved.

I won.

My mom fell off our porch anyway (the massive lone THREE INCH STEP), even with the 100 watt bulb, and got bursitis in the shoulder she landed on. She didn�t sue.

In the intervening years, Hubby has learned the value of letting go of a few bucks in the name of comfort and enjoyment for himself. There�s a time and a place for everything, which includes enjoying your life. Just don�t go overboard. He also lets me self-regulate my spending (I�ve improved a wee bit as well), and I have most of the say-so of the household and personal necessities. If we need something, really need it, I get it with no questions asked. And that includes light bulbs that actually throw off light.

It�s good to be the Queen.

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