Friday, August 24, 2012

The 'Just Married Please Excuse' contest entry


I've been a follower of Y's blog for long, and I am super thrilled for her book. I followed it's progress for a long time and I'm happy that it's finally out and doing well. A big Congrats, Y, and here's my entry:
Like all just married couples, my husband and I shared not just evenings of fun, pizza and red wine sprawled in front of the TV, but also some potentially life-threatening moments. Allow me to explain.
On a particularly exhausting work day, we both were looking forward to our signature pepperoni-thin crust with cheesy dips and a bottle of red on the side. The Love of My Life (LoML) had already called in for the food while I'd showered and slipped into my most comfortable grey pyjamas with the yellow bunnies. I switched on the TV, and helped bring the plates and glasses to the dining table. While placing the bottle of tomato ketchup, it slipped and the glass bottle landed squarely on the LoML's right toe who let out an agonised howl, which seemed like the painful fracturing of a bone.
Scared and stammering sorrys faster than you could say pepperoni- I made him sit on the sofa, and ran inside for some ice, my heart hammering in my body- 'What if I'd actually fractured his toe? What a way to end the day! What a way to start our life.. What kind of a wife am I? How could I hurt him- how could the bottle just slip? O Lord, o Lord!' spinning fast in my head. While I plonked myself on the rug and gently applied ice to his by-now-bright red toe, I couldn't help but cry- accompanied by his painful moans- and one sad tear splashed right onto his toe. I think that was the point when the LoML decided he'd had enough fun and stopped pretending I'd killed him. He wiped away my tears and gingerly checked his toe- he was fine- it was just a bruise- Thank God- just exaggerated by his larger-than-life shrieks of pain. 
That didn't stop him from bringing up the incident at many family reunions- when Roli Mami almost fractured Mamu's toe- was one of the after-dinner favourites.
Years later, when my one-year old daughter dropped her heavy wooden toy block on the LoML's toe and he let out an agonising yell, my daughter thought it was a joke and started giggling, and she repeated the action several times over. The LoML bravely repeated the howl just to see her laugh and when she finally got tired and walked away with her doll, he whispered softly in my ear- 'like mother like daughter'...

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