“Compassionate Conversation: Tips and Techniques”
The following is adapted from a Relief Society lesson.One of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is, “I keep forgetting you have a husband.” I’ve trained my speech over years to use the first-person plural “we” only when strictly necessary, in part because I find it alarming how quickly individual identities become completely subsumed into a combined existence after marriage. “Our car is in the shop.” “We’re out of milk.”The other reason I don’t use “we” statements is that I find it’s an unnecessary conversational reminder that I’m lucky enough to have a life partner when so many others don’t. This […]
“A Fish Story”
He came in a tiny tupperware container with a $4 price tag, the last lonely betta fish on the Petco shelf. The brainchild of my partner’s love language, gifts, and mine, animals. He was to be my office companion, but then the pandemic happened, so he took up residence in the corner of the living room. He goes by “Mitchell,” “bud,” “bug,” “sea monster,” “anger fish,” “rage machine,” and “him.” They’re known as Siamese Fighting Fish for a reason, and this one wakes up on the wrong side of the bed every day. Every. Day. We loved him immediately. Stuck at […]
